2008 Financial Crisis: In the early 2000's, investors looking for low-risk, hight return investments started buying "mortgage backed securities", which are essentially bundles of thousands of American homeowners' mortgages. Every month, people pay interest on top of their mortages, so as long as people kept paying their mortages, these securities kept rolling in the dough. But more and more investors wanted to buy mortgage backed securities, so in return, lenders became more lenient on whom they allowed to take out mortages, including people with low income and poor credit scores. These are called sub-prime mortgages. At the same time, credit rating agencies were rating these sub-prime bundles of mortgages as very safe. This caused the housing market to collapse, and millions of Americans defaulted on their loans and lost their houses. There is much more to this story, so I highly recommend the below sources.
Beghazi: The September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya left four Americans dead. The government admitted after the attack that they underestimated the turbulence of the region and should have invested more in security. Some Americans consider the attacks as a cover up by the U.S. government since Obama did not initally refer to the attack as an act of terrorism, and for many, many other reasons. Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time of the attack, has received a lot of backlash for the events.
Beghazi hearings: In the midst of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the Republican party used tax dollars to organized an extensive committee dedicated to determining if Hillary Clinton acted with criminal intentions surrounding the 2012 events of Benghazi. This was more an exercise of patience for Senator Clinton, as she sat through over 12 hours of questioning, which in the end, did not reveal any new information.
Black Lives Matter: The Black Lives Matter movement arose in response to the unwarrented killings of several black Americans in the past couple of years, especially in the hands of law enforcement officials.
Brady Bill: The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act went into effect in 1994, making background checks a requirement for gun purchasers and imposing a 5-day waiting period after the purchase has been made. Senator Bernie Sanders voted against the bill 5 times because he believed the waiting period was overreach on the part of the federal government and because his Vermont constituents have a high gun ownership.
Jeb Bush: George W.'s younger brother and governor of Florida, Jeb Bush was a prominent contender for the Republican primary early on in the race. He has lost steam in the past year, as his policies are too moderate for mass Republican appeal, and his quiet demeanor foils against Donald Trump's rambunctious presence in election debates.
Ben Carson: A retired neurosurgeon, Ben Carson is entering the public sector as a Republican presidential hopeful. Carson is a devout Christian who opposes Planned Parenthood and Obamacare.
Charleston Loophole: In the wake of June 2015 Charleston church shooting, FBI agents revealed that the shooter was able to purchase his weapon because of a clerical mistake during the transactiom.
Citizens United: Citizens United is a conservative non-profit group that fought a famous Supreme Court case against the Federal Election Commission in 2010 to allow corporations to fund political campaigns.
Fracking: Fracking is a controversial drilling process that entails drilling down into the ground and then pushing a high-pressure water at the rock to release its natural gas. Because this method allows oil companies access to hard-to-reach gas resources, it's great for the economy. But pretty terrible for the environment. "What is fracking and why is it controversial?" from the BBC
Glass-Steagall Act: A 1933 act passed by Congress that prohibited commercial banks from participating in the investment business. This was in response to the Great Depression. See also: Flint's water crisis, explained in 3 minutes - Vox
Guantánamo Bay: President George W. Bush opened the Guantánamo Bay prison in 2002 to hold foreign fighters overseas, according to PBS Newshour. Since then, President Obama has been attempting to close the prison, which he thinks is expensive, unnecessary, and fosters hostile opions of the U.S. abroad. He wants to move the detention center to the U.S. soil, but Congress has repeatedly repealled this idea.
Credit rating agencies: These private companies, like S&P and Moody’s & Fitch, are meant to inform investors by assessing the worthiness of Wall Street securities. Almost everyone agrees they were a driving force of the Great Recession by giving top ratings to junk bonds because otherwise, the banks would just go to their competitors.
Ted Cruz: Ted Cruz is the Texas junior senator. Beloved by the Tea Partiers, Cruz is a conservative Hispanic-Canadian politician who widely shares his Evangelical Christian beliefs. In Congress, he has voted against all gun control bills, and he was one of the senators who organized the 2012 government shutdown in opposition of Obamacare. He wants to prohibit all illegal immigrants from receiving citizenship and wants to triple border security. He's also anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage.
Dodd-Frank: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a hefty financial reform that broke up the big banks in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Passed under the Obama administration in 2010, the reform spans thousands of pages and gives several government groups the responsibility of overseeing and managing the financial sector.
Carly Fiorina: Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is running for the Repuplican presidential bid. As chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, Ms. Fiorina.
Flint's water crisis: In 2011, Flint, Michigan was in drastic economic despair after the closing of several auto factories. Half the population left, and the city council was practically broke. Politicians decided that the city could save money by proving their own water from a nearby lake instead of buying it from Detroit's water system. This was enacted in 2014, and the new water was murky, brown, and just gross. The city cited tests saying the water was safe, but Virginia Tech performed an outside test and found high levels of lead in the water. Now, the city has purchased filters for citizens and has returned to the Detroit water source. See also: Flint's water crisis, explained in 3 minutes - Vox
Freedom Caucus: In early 2015, 30 Republican House representatives formed this group to push for their ultra-conservative agenda. Their sizeable voting power allows them to bully other politicians into supporting their causes. They allegedly forced John Bahner to step down as the speaker of the House. His replacement, Paul Ryan, only agreed to take on the role if the Caucus approved.
Keystone XL Pipeline: The Keystone Pipeline was a proposed oil pipeline that would span 1,179 miles to transfer 83,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the U.S. daily. Obama rejected this pipeline, which he said wouldn't provide much benefit to the American economy. Most Republican candidates support the pipeline, while both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton oppose it.
Mortgages: When someone buys a house, they usually borrow a large sum of money from the bank. A mortgage is a contract between the buyer and the bank that obliges the buyer to pay back the bank (with interest) in a set of payments. If the buyer fails to pay their mortgage, the bank can foreclose the house. See also: Investopedia's defintion
New York Values: At the Jan. 11 Republican campaign, Ted Cruz took a dig at Donald Trump by insulting the liberal tendencies of his New York upbringing. “Everybody understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal and pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage,” he said. “And focus on money and the media.” See also: The New York Times' collection of responses to the comment
Obamacare: Formally known as the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare is a series of acts that intend to make the very, very expensive and inefficient U.S. healthcare system simultaneously more affordable and better for the economy. Before Obamacare, there were many people left out of healthcare options in the United States (unemployed, could not afford healthcare, etc.), and many people with pre-existing health conditions had very expensive options. This resulted in a healthcare system that took up 17% of our GDP. Obamacare includes legislature that helps bolster business in the insurance industry while keeping costs for Americans low and incentivizing drug companies to lower their prices. By the numbers, Obamacare has definitively been a success, but not enough to put us on the path to sustainable healtcare spending, according to John Green. See also: This "Explain Like I'm 5" conversation on Reddit
Sarah Palin: R. She ran as John McCain's VP in the 2008 election. Previously, she was the governor of Alaska, but after the election she resigned from her position to work on projects like her reality TV show. Recently, she endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 bid.
Paris Climate Deal: The December 2015 U.N. climate talks brought major political players from around the world together to discuss a binding agreement to collectively prevent global temperatures from rising. Historically,
PATRIOT Act: The USA PATRIOT Act is a bill that was passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to make tracking of public communication easier for federal officials.
Marco Rubio: Marco Rubio is a Florida Senator running for the Republican bid. He is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. He also believes climate change is not linked with human activity. However, his immigration policies are a bit more aligned with liberal principles.
Bernie Sanders: Starting his career as the only House representative for Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders is running for the Democratic presidency bid. He opposed both the PATRIOT act and the Iraq war from the start, unlike his opponent Hillary Clinton. A socialist, Bernie Sanders is a bit of an outsider in DC politics. He is a strong supporter of environmental causes and wants to break up the banks. Sanders wants to completely overhaul the U.S. economic system to remove the gap between rich and poor.
Donald Trump R. A real estate mogul and billionaire, Donald Trump announced his run for presidency in June 2015. Despite predictions of many political analysts, Trump has remained popular in polls even as he makes offensive statements. His support has created a sort of chasm in the GOP party, as some Republicans steer away from established GOP candidates like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in favor of unconventional and politically inexperienced candidates like Trump and Ben Carson.
Super PACs: Super PACs are way for businesses and other large organizations to pool together money for presidential hopefuls. Traditionally, PACs (which stand for Political Action Committees) are campaign fundraising organizations that do not accept money from corporations and do not accept donations over $5,000 per candidate. But in 2010, a PAC called Citizen United fought a Supreme Court case arguing that prohibiting companies from funding campaigns violated corporate free speech, since spending money is a form of speech. Thus, super PACs were born.
Tea Party: A strongly conservative faction that broke away from the rest of the Republican party. 80% of Tea Party members oppose taxing the $250,000+ income bracket.
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