Category Archives: ENG 1101

Pre-Draft: Thesis Paragraph

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Many believe that with money you have everything. When in reality what you make of your wealth is what you make of yourself. Often when people are asked what makes them happy or would bring them happiness they reply with money or material things. The question is what do those things really do to contribute to your happiness? When taken into your own perspective you might believe nothing, or you might think everything, when your emotional state shouldn’t depend on stuff that you buy. In two articles named, “How to buy happiness” by Elizabeth Dunn and Michel Norton and “How to buy happiness: what good is money if it can’t be bought” by Sonja Lyubomirsky, they explore this idea and why materialistic items and money shouldn’t be the equivalent to happiness.

Class Notes 09/30/2014

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Vocabulary:

  1. High-stakes: really important to perform excellently on all categories.
  2. Low-stakes: important, however with less pressure on performing excellently on all categories.
  3. Revise: to go over something with the aim of making it better, changing it, and re-thinking it.
  4. Superficial: on the surface.
  5. Recursive: a revision process in writing.
  6. Scaffolding: building in steps.
  7. Indignation: righteous anger.

Reminders:

  • Latenesses and absences. ( no more then 10% of absences, meaning only 3 are allowed, and 2 latenesses counts as 1 absence)
  • If not done already, read al other classmate posts.

Formal Writing: 

In formal essays, you have to think about all the issues, not only the content and your ideas, but also the structure of your writing. So, you really have to work on having an argument, having a really good introduction, having really well-formed paragraphs, with topic sentences, using evidence, and quotes, and siting correctly, having work sited page at the sentence level, and having no errors, no spelling mistakes, using words correctly, and having your sentences vary. It is important because they are going to be held to a higher standard, in terms of the sort of quality of the writing itself.

In class, we did free-writing about 3 things:

  1. What is our writing process.
  2. What are the emotions we have when writing or having to write about something. (Reflection)
  3. What is the ideal way of writing.

Prof. Belli said that when writing, the 3R should be applied which are Revision, Recursive, and Reflection.

  • Revision process is really important because a large part of your grade for the course and essays are going to be built on the quality and thoughtfulness of you revision.
  • Reflection is really important because in each essay done for this class, a page long, single-spaced reflection letter to Prof. Belli will be attached to it. It will consist of the revisions made, the reasons why they were made, what’s good about them, and the struggles encountered.

Writing Process: (What we students do or think)

What is our writing process?

  • Brainstorm.
  • Go straight to it, meaning just start writing.
  • Analyze the topic.
  • Research.
  • Ignore the assignment.
  • Procrastinate.
  • Make an outline.
  • Free-writing.
  •  Tell someone.

What are the emotions we feel?

  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Over thinking
  • Anger
  • Overwhelmed
  • Empty
  • Stuck
  • Boredom
  • Rebellion
  • Indignation
  • Fear

Ideal Process of Writing:

  1. Analyze the topic and assignment.
  2. Make a really rich outline that include an introduction, (hook, explanation of topic, and thesis statement), at least 3 paragraphs, (main ideas, proof/evidence, concluding sentence), argument against your idea if it applies, and a conclusion, restating your ideas.
  3. Write freely as much as possible about your topic and what you want to include in your essay.
  4. Go through all paragraphs and edit it to make it better.
  5. Peer edit your own work.
  6. Have a person or more give you feedback on your paper. (Prof. or classmates)
  7. Reflect about it.

Homework: read the article “What Suffering Does” by David Brooks given in class, make an reversed outline, look up vocabulary, and prepare for tomorrow’s class.

I tried and I hope I covered everything that was done.

 

Class Notes 9/18/14

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Vocabulary

Ethics: moral code on what we should and shouldn’t do.

Norms: standards of society.

Explicit: direct.

Disparate: (adj) different.

Allusion: (noun) make a reference to something else.

Delusion: believing in things that don’t have basis in reality.

Illusion: seeing something is not there.

Elude: to evade, escape.

Patriotism: to love and support your country.

Collective: (adj) together.

Counter intuitive: is not what you expect.

Content: Satisfied.

Authoritarian: favoring authority.

Dogmatic: to think what you do is the right thing.

Intolerant: can’t stand other’s beliefs or views.

After a brief talk on how to improve our class notes by Professor Belli, we first talked about what we discussed in our Human Services class on wednesday. Anna proceeded to explain that we talked about scenarios when we use our human services ethics in order to deal with clients. Followed by this, Professor Belli asked the class if we started to see connections between our human services class and english. Arlene mentioned that we are learning how we can make others and ourselves happy. Furthermore, Marie asked an interesting question “ how do you know your soul is happy?” which Professor Belli responded by making a connection to Socrates who thinks that soul and body are separate. Therefore, there are different means on how to make your soul happy, contrasted to Maslow’s belief in basic needs for happiness of the body.

When the previous discussion finished we continued to talk about the Mayoral Victory speech of Bill De Blasio. Kelsey mentioned that De Blasio uses pathos when he talks about the tragedy of 9/11 in minute 9:15. He uses this tragedy in order to show the public that he has sympathy for the community and the city. Continuously, Professor Belli explained that pathos can be manipulative because they strike the emotions of people.

Moreover, we talked about “The tale of two cities” that De Blasio was referring to. By this statement, De Blasio was referring to the fact that there are a big group of poor people and a small group of rich ones. He mentions that he doesn’t want anyone to be left behind. Hence, Jacob made an inference from De Blasio’s speech: people should stop thinking about themselves and instead unify the community. Therefore, we concluded that De Blasio was promoting patriotism to the audience.

Furthermore, we went back in the video where De Blasio’s daughter Chiara speaks before his father. We concluded that she was using ethos when she spoke because she was appealing to the character of his father. Her words can be considered extremely credible due to the fact that she is De Blasio’s daughter. Since she talks from first experience, the audience can believe that what De Blasio is promising will be true. After this, Professor Belli showed us one more example where De Blasio uses ethos through his son Dante for his campaign. It was a commercial where Dante appears as a 15 year old boy who lives in Brooklyn, this video focused in appealing to De Blasio’s character by mentioning his goals for the community. Hence, Dante’s skin color, age, and place where he appears to live appeal to the audience De Blasio is targeting: the credibility of the commercial is very high.

Followed by this, we continued to talk about Joe Lhota’s speech. Brandon mentioned the difference of how De Blasio and Lhota talk about the Stop & Frisk program. De Blasio wants it to be removed due to the racial profiling that has been occurring, and Lhota wants to keep supporting it because it has supposedly decreased the crime rate by 75%. We wrapped up the discussion about the speeches and proceeded to talk a little about the article “ Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals” by Arthur C. Brooks. We started to talk about how the article is counter intuitive because it mentions that conservatives are happier than liberals. The conclusion of this statement is because conservatives who are married and religious tend to be more happy according to statistics. Moreover, the class concluded that since conservatives are narrow minded it keeps them happier or at least content because they don’t wonder about many other possibilities or perspectives there are in life.

There is NO homework. Except, to review the article and be prepared for next class. However, Professor Belli said to keep an eye on the homework schedule this week just in case.

I hope this is not too much to read, I tried to make it as simple as possible… if anyone has any questions don’t hesitate to ask me through message in openlab ! 🙂

Conservative vs Liberals

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In the article “Why Conservatives Are happier Than Liberals“by Arthur C.Brooks states the difference between who are happier liberals or conservatives? And research found that conservatives are happier about their lives because censuses summed up the more who were married, religious and had a family were happier than liberals who are not and didn’t have kids.

Something Brooks points out is that people, who are married combine with people who are happy and their relationship, go together and if one is married and the other is not the married person will be 18 percent more likely to say he/she is happier than the unmarried person (paragraph 3). Brooks is explaining that couples or people in general who are married have a better increase chance of being happier because they’re with their soul mate and is more able to be more open with someone and have more support.

On the other hand Brooks compared the task of a liberal and a conservative. Conservative are more about being in a positive spirit and they are inattentive of negativity or what goes around them that doesn’t matter, they don’t get involved because conservatives are more likely to be spirited and religious. As for liberals they are less happy than conservatives because they are more about justice, unlike conservative they don’t recognize injustice which is why they are happier. Liberals believe that people in society are more dependable on government rather than conservatives they believed in hard work and dedication, if a person wants something they should work for it instead of being dependent on government when a person should get it for them.

However, according to a study from the University of Florida Barry Schlenker and John Chambers and the University of Toronto psychologist Bonnie Le studied suggested that liberals not only were for justice, but believed in what was right, fair and wanted to improve things in the society whether it dealt with economic, wealth, or equality. Unlike conservatives situations that concerned liberals doesn’t bother conservatives as much. In fact research stated “Why Conservatives Are happier Than Liberals“that what if the roles were reversed and conservatives felt as Liberals did, and liberal felt as conservatives did. Conservatives would be fine with the changes, but on the other hand liberals would try to avoid it and would think it would be a silly idea.

Not only did a study thought about the opposite, but they also focused on moderates versus extremist. A moderate is more of a liberal and an extremist is more as a conservative. However extremist are happier than moderate people because the percentage of happiest is also known as “extremely conservative” which is known as extremist. Brooks’s states that based on study extremist have their world figured out, and are more analytical about their surroundings and people they deal with which researched states they are known as “happy warriors”. As for moderate they are more based on now and don’t know what to expect next.

Lastly Brooks broke down the difference between conservative and liberal people, then noticed another political gap that can compare moderate versus extremist both had the same meanings, but had s different idea. Overall the more people who were happier were the ones who were religious, family based and focused on what’s important, rather than people who worried about things that are less likely important.

Todays Class Notes

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Economy= money$$

-de blasio is the mayor of new york

-primary elections happen before officail electoion/when 2 o more candidates are chosen.

-the dominate 2 parties are..demoratic and republican

-de blasio won for the democratic party and lhota won for the republican party but in the end it was de blasio who won it all!

-when writing an analysis you have to think about argumentative, using claims and evidence.

-new on openlab(learning community happiness archive) idea from sara ahmed.

happiness is effected by society.

VOCABULARY

consituents-means supporters

summary-over review of what was said

analysis-developing your own idea/ making your own argument

argumentative-claim/prove something related to the topic(persuasive or thesis)

marginalze(verb)-to make something marginal(adj) they dont share in the same priveledges as other people

For Example

-disabilties

-immigrants

-women

-homosexual

normativ(adj)-typical or acting inan exceptable manner

normal(adj) norms(noun)

abnormal-act in a way that is not normal

stigma-labled in a bad way

connotation-the association of a word

dennotation-dictionary defintion

statu quo-the way things are

attend-to pay attention

archive-delt with/save it

tangent-not directically

saturated-full

cohere-to bring together

HOW WE THINK ABOUT HAPPINESS MAKES UP HOW THE WORLD IS!!

 

Visions of well-being NYC

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In Bill De Blasio’s primary victory speech he discusses various points in making New York City a better living for its citizens. He addresses to current situations that needed to be solved. De Blasio mentions how New Yorkers should all stick together and support one another, he believed that as society they should stick together to make a better life and living for one another. He also discusses about the pro active policing became racial profiling, the wealthy are supported from the great recession while half of New York citizens are living in poverty and parents who are not able to support their children will not be able to obtain a college education (17:23) . His hopes is to make New York a better place to live and get it back to how it used to be where everyone was for another ,and stood up for each.

He believes there was a time when New Yorkers supported each other and helped each other throughout any circumstance, such as September 11, when it wasn’t about race, color, ethnicity, it was all about survival, and helping each other get through a horrifying tragic. In the year of 2000/2001 was when people helped one another without any questions asked or economic stability, race or anything else. De Blasio also believes that all children should be given the opportunity to reach their full potential because they don’t have many opportunities because of their parents. De blasio mentions how the wealthy who makes half a million dollars or more are being asked to pay a little more in taxes, to fund in after school programs and pre-k, but the wealthy think that is a bit too much to do. De Blasio disagrees and goes on to mention why it’s necessary and is important because he felt we should dedicate ourselves to each other and it’s a risk that they can’t afford to take. (16:02-17:00).

De Blasio states New York as a tale of two cities (10:46) the rich and the poor, but De Blasio is for the poor, he is trying to make a change in how society live and wants to have equal opportunities between the rich and poor. He believes New York can go back to being a city where everyone cares for one another and have each other’s shoulders to lean on. He wants the city where he is trying to re-create and re-establish, by tackling the current problems that burdens New Yorkers and solving them it will eventually equal to our well-being and happiness. He believes that New Yorkers have come too far to go behind.

In Joe Lhota’s primary victory speech he speaks on unifying the city and making the public and government go hand in hand. Lhota believes that everyone in the city has more in common rather than differences. When speaking about the common desires for more of the people he mentions safer streets, proper education for children for a better future, good paying jobs to secure food and shelter for their families and a better life. Lhota believes that New York is on the right path and wants it to continue. Something major Lhota talks about is Crimes. He discusses that crimes are at its lowest points, but noticed that the economy is expanding and large industries are providing good paying job which is what they are rooting for. Throughout his speech he not only makes his view point of things, but also made sure to hear another point of view that the audience is aware of the other parties of what he believes and others. He believes that stop and frisk should continue and that New Yorkers should support NYPD in order to have safer streets. Also he wants children have a good strong education, just as Bill De Blasio, but believes parents should be involved in the process with their child. Lhota states that he can bring the city together so that we can have a stronger foundation and get things done.

a tale of two cities, or not

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In Bill De Blasio’s primary victory speech his family plays a huge part. De Blasio’s daughter ,Chiara, started of the speech. She talks about her admiration for her father and highlighting three crucial factors of his success , including family. De Blasio uses pathos then when referring to 9/11 ” the worst days of the city’s history” 18:25. He says although tragedy struck on that day “we saw a united city” 10:28 and that “the values we saw on that day are the values we must rededicate ourselves to” 10:57. He also starts introducing his main focuses stop and frisk, taxes, and education. De Blasio uses a ” tale of two cities” to show the separation among the wealthy and people on the brink of the poverty line. De Blasio highlights equality and that like in 9/11 no one should be left behind. De Blasio also points out the injustice of police brutality and how stop and frisk ” makes communities and police less safe” 16:38. He states that although there are doubt of his ambition ” we are New Yorker…..thinking big isn’t new to us…it is why this place id great”15:10. He believes that we ” shouldn’t settle for the status quo”.

In Joe Lhota’s speech he briefly thanks his family and mentions his parents struggle in his up bringing. He mentions his family’s role in the community as fire fighters, police men ect. But his main focuses were his support for stop and frisk, education and his experience. He states that Bill De Blasios ” a tale of two cities” is dividing our city and that “although we are five boroughs we are one city” 6:32. Unlike De Blasio, Lhota believes that thanks to stop and frisk our streets are safer ” I support the NYPD and believe that stop, question and frisk should continue” 8:58. Lhota also touches on his plan to reduce taxes and help small businesses grow. he continues with his determination to improve the school systems to give ” we need high standards that are balanced with great teachers and teacher training…..more than just teaching for a test” 11:38.

Both candidates touch on the areas that need improvement and that have caused a great deal of controversy. Stop and frisk has become one of the most talked about policies. Debates on whether its effective or just degrading have rose over the years with plenty of deaths and major lawsuits the bad have overcome the good intentions of the policy. Also the crucial topic if education was brought up and the lack of it. As Lhota stated we need higher stand but with that come better teacher training and better schools. Although both men have different visions of the city’s well-being they both have the same intentions with different outcomes

Vision speeches with different methods but same purpose

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The mayoral victory speeches in 2013 from Bill De Blasio and Joe Lhota, address different points of views on how to improve the wellbeing of distinct groups of New Yorkers. Before the speech of Bill De Blasio took place, his daughter Chiara gave her own speech praising her father as an ideal candidate. Later, De Blasio mentions the tragedy of 9/11 to remind the audience that if New Yorkers were united and generous back when this happened then they should also act the same way today (9:15). He continues his speech by stating the major problems that there has been: half of the Americans being near the line of poverty, police making racial profiling, and fear in families of their children not having a good education. Moreover, De Blasio continues to imply that since “We are New Yorkers” (15:45) they deserve changes. Hence, he starts to make his proposals about the solutions to these problems. De Blasio states that New Yorkers who are more wealthy should pay more taxes and therefore those taxes would go towards the education of children. Furthermore, he explains that “Stop and Frisk era” (16:38) is not providing safety to communities and should be removed.

The group of New Yorkers that De Blasio is supporting are people of less resources. Therefore his target are communities where there is a lack of education and economic wealth. The candidate wants to promote generosity between communities in order for these to improve. De Blasio’s daughter’s speech was a way of using ethos in his favor. She described how dedicated his father is after 18 years of being an activist and a public servant, then continues to praise deeply his career and persona. He uses pathos when he talks about the tragedy of 9/11, allowing his audience to notice his sympathy for others. Furthermore, he uses logos when he starts making statements of how hospitals have been replaced with luxury condos. He makes his audience think deeply of how drastic the public resources are being altered. I think that De Blasio’s vision of happiness for New Yorkers, specifically for the poor, is that they all have equality among the rest of the people with different social status. Meaning, that everyone will have education, proper safety, and fair wealth.

In Joe Lhota’s victory speech he starts by claiming that New York City is the city of opportunity.  He continues to talk about the progress that there has been such as: communities being improved in their constructions, and the decrease on the crime rates. Moreover, Lhota states that he supports the NYPD Stop and frisk: and encourages everyone else to support it as well. Furthermore, he mentions that he has a plan that will cut specific taxes in order for entrepreneurs to create successful businesses (9:30).  Also, fines and fees will be applied to strengthen the already existent small businesses. Lhota continues to explain that he believes all kids should receive great education, teachers should receive better training, and kids should not be educated simply by tests. He finishes his speech stating that New York City will be where all dreams come true.

Joe Lhota supports people of middle class.  His goal is to build on what the people of the middle class have. Improve living conditions, education system, and keep supporting the NYPD.  Lhota used logos when he talked about the NYPD stop and frisk: he made people think how it has shown results by decreasing crime rates.  He used pathos when he talked of himself being criticized for not being politically correct when he talks about his changes: made people have empathy for him.  Last but not least he uses ethos when he says that anyone who knows him, knows he is honest and open to the communities. By this he is assuring to the public that his reputation can be and should be trusted.

I think that both of these candidates have the same ideas on how to improve the wellbeing of New Yorkers. However, what differences them is the group who they are trying to help improve their wellbeing. Both of them target at education, living, and economy in a different approach: according to their groups. Bill De Blasio wants to help poor people to MEET their basic needs. Joe Lhota wants  to IMPROVE the needs of the middle class.

Bringing Change to all of New York

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Both Bill de Blasio, the and Joe Lhota have different perspectives for the well-being of New Yorkers. Both candidates are working on better living conditions in New York City. Both candidates have their own separate goals and ideas on how they will bring about the change New Yorkers need in order to have a satisfying life.
Bill de Blasio uses Logo by focusing more on targeting the lower class and the poor. He does not want the families in poverty to fear about their children going to school and having a great education. He wants them to know they will be taken care of. In his victory speech from (14:40-15:30) he is talking about financial stability and comfort for future generations. Bill de Blasio doesn’t want any New Yorker to feel as if they should limit their status hierarchy because of poverty. In 15:55 Bill mentions the people who are making a half a million in income would be taxed a little more to help fund pre-k schools and after school programs for middle schools. In 16:26 he speaks on behalf of the stop and frisk method. He feels the method has begun to target a specific group of races including more minorities of color. He says this method can be dangerous towards the people of New York and the NYPD. Bill de Blasio really gets in depth of what New Yorkers need. He knows moreover what New Yorkers are looking for and what their needs are because he is a New Yorker himself. He’s experienced the living of practically all classes.
Lhota focuses more on everyone as a whole. There should be an equal share for all parties. He and Bill de Blasio have similar targets but Lhota doesn’t really hit home with specifics. He keeps it traditional in saying he wants to improve the safety, educational levels, and
Financial resources. He also supports the NYPD system “stop and frisk.” In his eyes he’s maintaining safety but what happens of the method goes wrong(?)
Both men want the best for New Yorkers but Bill Blasio’s focus is more towards the people in poverty and Joe Lhota focuses on the ones who can already maintain for themselves.

Mayors visions on well-being for New Yorkers

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In the night of the NYC mayoral primary 2013, Bill De Blasio’s gaol is to give equal opportunities to everyone and to unify the city. De Blasio started off his speech with the terrifying terrorist attack of 9/11. He takes a moment to remember everyone that suffered the tragedy of 9/11. Throughout all the pain everyone suffered that day, everyone one came together and help anyway they found possible. People put at risk their own life to try to help others, complete strangers. It was a reminder that those in authority have the job to keep everyone safe in the best way they can. De Blasio said “New Yorkers left no one behind that day” (10:42). That day everyone helped each other no matter the racial statues or economic statues. The city became united. De Blasio explains that there was a tale of two cities. One tale where the wealthy were doing better then ever, their lives couldn’t get any better. The other tale where most of the citizen are living in the line of poverty. Parents are fearing that their children will not have the opportunity to have a high education. Where pro active policing is now turning into racial profiling. De Blasio restates that we can’t allow New York to continue unsafe, changes have to be made for a better future.

Bill De Blasio is a democrat which is goes more to benefit poor people. He used the day of 9/11 to show the way everyone came together and helped each other out. The way every one reacted so rapidly to help no matter who the person was. De Blasio wants New York to be like that everyday. He wants New York to be a united and equal city. Parents with a low economic statues should be able to give their children the same opportunities to receive high education. He referred New York as the tale of two cities where he mentions that the wealthy are living better then ever before and most citizens are living in the line of poverty. Wealthy people are in all ability to help but yet prefer to build luxury condos over community hospitals. Also police racial profiling is becoming very dangerous. Instead of police bring the feeling of safety they are doing the complete opposite. There should be changes done to feel safer and in order to have better opportunities. This will help in the well-being of people because they will feel safer and they will also be given more opportunities.

New York Cities 2013 primary night Joe Lhota’s victory speech is about continuing to improve the city and improve education. Lhota remarks several times that America is the land of opportunity, New York City is the place of opportunity. He doesn’t want to bring the city to bankruptcy and economic fear like others have done by picturing the perfect world. Lhota supports the New York City Police Department all the way. Lhota is very proud of the police ” who have brought our crime down over 75% over the last 20 years and I am determined to bring it down even more” (8:44). Lhota thinks if the the police does’t keep up with what they are doing the city will be unsafe. He also beliefs that stop question and frisk must continue. Lhota wants to continue improving the city just like he gives the example of Brooklyn improving and becoming safer to race a family. He also wants to improve education and give more opportunities to children to become more competitive in the 21st centenary.

Joe Lhota is a Republican which goes more in favor to the wealthy people. He doesn’t talk much about the lower class people showing that he mostly cares about the cities appearance. He want to continue to modernize the city with out taking in mind if it will benefit or harm lower class people. He also is in favor of the actions that police are now taking. Which harms a lot of people because of racial profiling. In reality this will not benefit the well-being of most people. Improving the city will bring up the cost of rent and many people wont be able to afford it. Also the police using racial profiling will cause to blame people that a innocent. These are not things that will bring an individual well-being or happiness within themselves.

Both candidates used pathos, logos, and ethos to catch the listeners attention and try to earn their votes. Bill De Blasio used pathos when he talked about the tragedy of 9/11 and the way he kept referring to that day. He uses logos when he talked about the tale of two cities, the wealthy and the poor. It is obvious that there is two completely different social classes and that one is benefiting more then the other. He uses ethos by having his speech in Brooklyn. This gives of to show that he is like everyone else and that he puts himself in everyone’s shoes. Joe Lhota uses pathos by mentioning that his parents worked very hard to give him a good education and where he came from. With this he wanted to show everyone that he and his family have also struggled. Lhota uses logos when he talks about the percentage of crimes that have gone down in the last 20 years. He wants to show how much it has gone down and to trust him that he will help to bring it down even more. Lhota uses ethos when he talks about others trying to paint the perfect picture and actually ended up bring the economy down. By using that he wants to show that he has a better plan then others and he is aware of what can happen.