During the 1920s, then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover remarked that “the only problem with capitalism is capitalists; they’re too damn greedy.” Hoover’s words of frustration stemming from working with bankers and industrial leaders to increase business-government cooperation (what he called the Associative State) raises the key point for understanding the financial crisis of 2008. That is, it stemmed from human choices and not impersonal market forces.
Financial crises were a common feature in the United States from the beginning of industrialization until the Great Depression, but nothing comparable has occurred in the past 79 years. Starting with the Panic of 1837 down to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, there were at least seven major financial crises that led to severe economic downturns and depressions. What the nation has faced since the summer of 2008 is a financial crisis, not a more common market correction or recession.
Why so many financial crises? More...
In Their Words asked faculty to offer advice to President Obama as he begins his first term of office. In these pages, three Whitman professors offer insight into the challenges he faces as well as potential solutions for the environment, education and health care. More...
Most people have never heard of it and very few have ever thought about it, yet everyone owes their existence partially to it. Without it, the Sun could not have formed, planets would not exist, and the basic molecules of life could not have developed. What is this amazing substance? It’s interstellar dust.
Don’t be turned off by its lowly moniker. This is not the same stuff that lurks under your bed forming bunnies; it’s a whole different animal. But 78 years after its discovery by Robert J. Trumpler, we’re still learning about this material that is so important to the formation of life, and to the structure of the Universe and the field of astronomy. More...
I have taught Shakespeare for more than 20 years, and, like all teachers, I learn from my students as I teach them. But no group of students ever taught me more about Shakespeare’s plays or about myself than the class I taught at the maximum security Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. To this day, the impact of that experience on my teaching extends into my Whitman classroom. More...
When faced with an election, are we better off choosing a candidate who will raise taxes to implement more governmental programs? Will our individual votes match what we feel is best for the community? On an international scale, what roles do calculation and psychology play in our economic and military decisions with regard to other nations? How should an overcommitted student, as so many of them are these days, decide to allot his or her precious time? More...
© Whitman College | 345 Boyer Ave. Walla Walla, WA 99362 | Contact us