Amy Finkelstein ECON 490 Blog

ECON 490 Blog Post 9/22 Opportunism is an interesting topic especially when it is related to economics. Opportunities are available for people to take advantage of more often than not. It is a personal character that guides the decision-making process of being a good citizen or not. There are many stories I can think of about people not maintaining good character and not being a good citizen. I think one of the most notorious cases of opportunism is the Bernie Madoff investment scandal. He took advantage of thousands of people including high-profile celebrity clients to average Americans. He created a $50-$65 billion dollar loss for investors and stole about $20 million for himself. I believe that acting opportunistically always relates to the theory of "karma" or "what goes around comes around." Bernie Madoff may have been very rich at one point in his life, however, he was caught by the authorities and now only makes $40 a month in his 150-year prison senten...

After arriving at the University of Illinois as a freshman, I decided that I wanted to become involved with the Greek Community on campus. I had heard many positive things by the older kids I knew that had attended the University. I went through the formal sorority recruitment process and found a chapter that was the best fit for me. During this recruitment process, I was completely unaware that I was joining an organization that would greatly impact and enhance my collegiate experience as a whole. I immediately started getting involved in the different aspects of the chapter. I was a part of philanthropic, recruitment, social, operations, and other committees during my first year involved in Greek life. As a freshman, everything was brand new to me and I just decided to do the duties I was assigned no questions asked. As time passed, my friends and I started to realize that there were some flaws within the organization we were involved in. We found certain areas of the chapter ...