Symbolic Language

 Economy

 

My Google photo search on “economy” produced a bunch a different images. A common theme among them were graphs with a downward slope, North America falling of the world or with a cross over it, or a picture of currency. I thought this one was unique compared to everything else. It shows tiny green houses and red hotels that you would find in a Monopoly game. They are all lined up in a grid. The camera is on some kind of macro setting so everything is really close. In the middle of the picture, there is a break in the rows of houses where two white die are placed. One is rolled to a six, the other rolled to a three. The dies are larger than any of the green houses and red hotels. They also cast large shadows that go to the left.

Abstract
Colorful
Gloomy
Gambling
Real
Debt
Mortgage
Bankrupt
Economy
Recession
Depression
Housing market
Failure
Bad planning
Stupid
American
Depreciation
Homeless
Opportunity
Family
American Dream

Dice = Gambling. Mortgages that where given away to people who didn’t qualify for them before 2008. These people didn’t think before they took out a six-figure loan, and were gambling with their future, especially those who refinanced. The value of homes had been increasing dramatically for years. They refinanced when their house was worth more. They gambled on that data thinking the value of the house wasn’t going to depreciate. When the bubble burst, their house was worth half of what they refinanced on.

House = The American Dream. Owning a home and raising a family might be a dream for many people.

Grid = The houses are all in a grid. A lot of homes are built in developments. All the houses are built to similar specifications right next to each other.

The composition of the image reinforces the feeling I have about the economy. We are currently in a recession, and have been in one for four years. A major reason for the recession was the housing market. Banks where rolling the dice when they gave out mortgages to any and every body that asked for one. It was bad planning and very stupid thing to do.