After the Depression occurred in the United States, the New Deal programs were started by Roosevelt. These New Deal programs led to the creation of the Social Security Act and Public Assistance. Sadly, both of these programs are in need of a definite reevaluation. Throughout the years, there were many different names and types of what is now called TANF-Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. I was surprised to see that it was created in 1996 I had thought this was a much newer form of aid, but I greatly agree with the positive light they're shedding on being a part of the work force. Although previously dubbed as a liberal view, I believe being a part of the work force should be a necessity. You should atleast be attempting to help yourself before you ask for help from the government. With that said, I LOVE the idea of 1996 Welfare Reform Act (an update to question #4), although I'm not sure it's being executed quite the way it was proposed. I definitely believe that by showing a consistent work effort, people should receive assistance in the form of childcare and health benefits(a more specific answer for #5). This is definitely a great update to #3, especially since I even mentioned I was largely unaware of the programs in place.The Welfare program also teaches about teen pregnancy prevention which was a group that I had often thought of as a "who" in those who are poverty stricken. I was very surprised to see I had not noted them in my original answers to questions #1 and #2.
I was also surprised to see that you could only collect for 60 months, but this was an aspect I liked. This is aid in constingence to you working, this is not a lifetime of benefits. If someone is used to always getting things handed to them, they will have no reason to work harder and no real interest in moving up to get a raise. I am also very very glad to see that it has been working. Within three years, ( from 2000 to 20003) 845,000 people less were receiving this aid and employment of single mothers incresed 12% in five years.
I really think that the work the Welfare Reform Act is doing is really awesome and as an update to #5, I think that this is one type of aid that is working and should continue!
What do you now think is the most beneficial of the programs that have previously (or are still currently) in place?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Session 7
In Atlanta, 63% of the hourly jobs pay less than $10.50/hr and 29% of the jobs pay less than $7.50.
Also, 6 out of the 10 fastest growing jobs in Atlanta pay less than $10.00 an hour. It costs a single adult approximately $1,449 a month to live a self-sufficient life in Atlanta, and it costs an adult with 2 young children approximately $3,601 a month. Although it has been suggested in the power point that the minimum wage should be raised to $10.00 an hour to better suit working class families, I'm not quite sure this would be the great fix that many believe. I think that raising the minimum wage so significantly would just lead to a decrease in the number that can be employed and an increase in the closing of small businesses. Although the workers would be more comfortable, the business owners would be striving to make ends meet to keep their business afloat. The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 and has been since July 24, 2009, and the current minimum wage in Georgia is $5.15. Of the workers in Georgia making $5.15 an hour, 85% of them are over the age of 20, and 51% of them are full-time employees. The current minimum rate for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour.
As far as our original question #5 is concerned, I am pleased to see that I did not include increasing the minimum wage as my first thoughts as to what should be done about poverty. I am very interested to find other proposed solutions, though. This is definitely not one of them in my book.
Do you think that the minimum wage should be increased?
Also, 6 out of the 10 fastest growing jobs in Atlanta pay less than $10.00 an hour. It costs a single adult approximately $1,449 a month to live a self-sufficient life in Atlanta, and it costs an adult with 2 young children approximately $3,601 a month. Although it has been suggested in the power point that the minimum wage should be raised to $10.00 an hour to better suit working class families, I'm not quite sure this would be the great fix that many believe. I think that raising the minimum wage so significantly would just lead to a decrease in the number that can be employed and an increase in the closing of small businesses. Although the workers would be more comfortable, the business owners would be striving to make ends meet to keep their business afloat. The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 and has been since July 24, 2009, and the current minimum wage in Georgia is $5.15. Of the workers in Georgia making $5.15 an hour, 85% of them are over the age of 20, and 51% of them are full-time employees. The current minimum rate for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour.
As far as our original question #5 is concerned, I am pleased to see that I did not include increasing the minimum wage as my first thoughts as to what should be done about poverty. I am very interested to find other proposed solutions, though. This is definitely not one of them in my book.
Do you think that the minimum wage should be increased?
Session 6
Why you believe people are poor in the US and globally- #2 on our original questions.. This also goes into #1, the who are the people that fall into all of these criteria..
Our book compares the association between poverty and: income growth, inequality, and changes in family structures.Some other leading causes for poverty include:
Language barriers, lack of education, economic conditions, low paying jobs, social standing, immigration status, fraud and abuse, access to public benefits, family obligations, substance abuse, political conditions, and family environment among other things.
I believe that a lack of education, immigration status, and family environment are the three biggest causes of poverty. In my initial post, I attributed bring born into poverty and unemployment as the two biggest contributing features.
The Human Capital Theory states that income differences are a result of differences in productivity, which is low among the poor because they lack the human capital to sell employers in a free market.
I was definitely correct in my original post in my thinking that a lack of education is a large factor in poverty. It was found that if the person had less than a highschool degree, their chances of poverty were 22.3% likely vs. if you had a highschool degree your chances would be only 9.6%,
However, I was incorrect in thinking that unemployment was a major fact and it was found that 37% of poor families had a member of the family working full-time and 35% had a member working atleast part-time.
One solution to this problem is to stress the importance of schooling from a very very early age. I think that more emphasis of a head start program would start this love and emphasis of school at the earliest age possible.
What did you initially think was the largest cause of poverty? What do you currently is the largest cause?
The Human Capital Theory states that income differences are a result of differences in productivity, which is low among the poor because they lack the human capital to sell employers in a free market.
I was definitely correct in my original post in my thinking that a lack of education is a large factor in poverty. It was found that if the person had less than a highschool degree, their chances of poverty were 22.3% likely vs. if you had a highschool degree your chances would be only 9.6%,
However, I was incorrect in thinking that unemployment was a major fact and it was found that 37% of poor families had a member of the family working full-time and 35% had a member working atleast part-time.
One solution to this problem is to stress the importance of schooling from a very very early age. I think that more emphasis of a head start program would start this love and emphasis of school at the earliest age possible.
What did you initially think was the largest cause of poverty? What do you currently is the largest cause?
Session 5
To me, it is almost an embarrassment to know that despite the United States being such a devloped and an industrial nation, we have an extremely high rate of poverty.
The Gini Index specifically measures a degree of income inequality. This index measurement was created by Corrando Gini, an Italian economist. It is created by plotting a family or individual's income against the number of individuals (from the lowest income to the highest). The score is in-between 0 and 1, 0 meaning everyone is equally well off, and 1 the rich have it all and the poor have nothing. The usual distribution type is between 0.20 and 0.30 and anything greater than 0.50 means that the economy has too much of a gap between the rich and the poor and there needs to be serious improvement. In 2004, the Uniter States scores a 0.47. Everything I have mentioned above definitely gives me an update to my original question #4. The US is definitely handling it terribly.
Many who are facing poverty or are already in poverty face capability failure. Capability failure is the inability to fully participate in society because the poor lack basic capabilities.
In 2001, Africa had the highest level of poverty (50%).
Extreme poverty is seen in those that cannot meet even the most basic need of survival, and they're living on approximately $1 a day. This level of extreme poverty can be seen in 23.4% of the world's population, which equates to be between 1.1 and 1.2 million people.
Moderate poverty means that you live on $1-$2 a day. With this income, their basic needs are met, but only barely. This level of poverty affects 10% of the world's population.
Nearly half of the world's 6 billion people suffer from some form of poverty, either extreme, moderate, or relative.
The second half of my blog directly answers questions #1 and #2. People who are poor are those who are making anywhere from less than $1 up to $2 for the entire day. In my original post, I cited $1.25 as a amount that a family could live off in a day. I see from this lesson that it is possible, but it won't go as far as I once imagined.
What can we do?
Jeffery Sach's has listed five interventions for impoverished countries:
1. Boosting agriculture
2. Improving basic health
3. Investing in education
4. Providing electric power
5.Providing clean water and sanitation
The UN has Millennium Project Goals
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Which of these goals do you think are most important?
The Gini Index specifically measures a degree of income inequality. This index measurement was created by Corrando Gini, an Italian economist. It is created by plotting a family or individual's income against the number of individuals (from the lowest income to the highest). The score is in-between 0 and 1, 0 meaning everyone is equally well off, and 1 the rich have it all and the poor have nothing. The usual distribution type is between 0.20 and 0.30 and anything greater than 0.50 means that the economy has too much of a gap between the rich and the poor and there needs to be serious improvement. In 2004, the Uniter States scores a 0.47. Everything I have mentioned above definitely gives me an update to my original question #4. The US is definitely handling it terribly.
Many who are facing poverty or are already in poverty face capability failure. Capability failure is the inability to fully participate in society because the poor lack basic capabilities.
In 2001, Africa had the highest level of poverty (50%).
Extreme poverty is seen in those that cannot meet even the most basic need of survival, and they're living on approximately $1 a day. This level of extreme poverty can be seen in 23.4% of the world's population, which equates to be between 1.1 and 1.2 million people.
Moderate poverty means that you live on $1-$2 a day. With this income, their basic needs are met, but only barely. This level of poverty affects 10% of the world's population.
Nearly half of the world's 6 billion people suffer from some form of poverty, either extreme, moderate, or relative.
The second half of my blog directly answers questions #1 and #2. People who are poor are those who are making anywhere from less than $1 up to $2 for the entire day. In my original post, I cited $1.25 as a amount that a family could live off in a day. I see from this lesson that it is possible, but it won't go as far as I once imagined.
What can we do?
Jeffery Sach's has listed five interventions for impoverished countries:
1. Boosting agriculture
2. Improving basic health
3. Investing in education
4. Providing electric power
5.Providing clean water and sanitation
The UN has Millennium Project Goals
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Which of these goals do you think are most important?
Session 4
Who?
I had never really given much though into the impact of your living region, so I was surprised to see this as our next area of concentration. If I had to have guessed, I would have said that the western coast or the north west were the areas of highest poverty. Because of my previous thoughts, I was especially surprised to see that the area I live in, the southern region was the most poverty stricken. I initially thought that these rates would be largely based on the cost of living. My interest was also peaked to see the percentages of poverty in the south actually drop (even if only by .02%) from 2005 to 2006. The midwest, west, and northeast are all relatively equal and measure in about 11% each.
It did not catch me off guard a bit to see the percentages of poverty being the highest in cities (16.1%) and the lowest in the suburbs (15.2%) while the rural areas were in the middle (11.8%)
Although I currently live in a suburb of Atlanta, my dad's family is from a very rural area of West Virginia. Because I visit them a few times every year, I am quite familiar with the economic routine that is described for us. My dad actually moved to Georgia because of the lack of work that was available to him in West Virginia and to this day, many of my family members that live there are either unemployed or are working out of state doing labor intensive duties due to a lack of higher education.
Why?
Some factors include:
Never finishing highschool. I had been taught both by my family and my educators that getting a good education is key and I couldn't agree more.
A large percentage of those unemployed.
A family size of 7 people or more. I didn't think or this reason in my originally post, but this definitely makes sense. More children means more mouths to feed.
A female run house hold. Without assistance, it's very difficult to get ahead.
I had never really given much though into the impact of your living region, so I was surprised to see this as our next area of concentration. If I had to have guessed, I would have said that the western coast or the north west were the areas of highest poverty. Because of my previous thoughts, I was especially surprised to see that the area I live in, the southern region was the most poverty stricken. I initially thought that these rates would be largely based on the cost of living. My interest was also peaked to see the percentages of poverty in the south actually drop (even if only by .02%) from 2005 to 2006. The midwest, west, and northeast are all relatively equal and measure in about 11% each.
It did not catch me off guard a bit to see the percentages of poverty being the highest in cities (16.1%) and the lowest in the suburbs (15.2%) while the rural areas were in the middle (11.8%)
Although I currently live in a suburb of Atlanta, my dad's family is from a very rural area of West Virginia. Because I visit them a few times every year, I am quite familiar with the economic routine that is described for us. My dad actually moved to Georgia because of the lack of work that was available to him in West Virginia and to this day, many of my family members that live there are either unemployed or are working out of state doing labor intensive duties due to a lack of higher education.
Why?
Some factors include:
Never finishing highschool. I had been taught both by my family and my educators that getting a good education is key and I couldn't agree more.
A large percentage of those unemployed.
A family size of 7 people or more. I didn't think or this reason in my originally post, but this definitely makes sense. More children means more mouths to feed.
A female run house hold. Without assistance, it's very difficult to get ahead.
Update!
I have an update to the true definition of 'poor.'
After reading, I now realize that the state of 'poor' can be described as people who do make an income, but it's such a small amount that it makes it difficult to live in a decent fashion.
On the other hand, the very poor can be described as those who have little to no income and have significantly insufficient funds for decent living or even mere survival.
I can also add that often those that are poorest are minority women and children. Another interesting thing I found out is that despite what many may think, laziness is a small reason to the large number of poverty stricken. I was supervised to find out that over half the population of poor people do work atleast part-time. It has even been reported that the middle class income has declined by almost 5% and as we know, the unemployment rate is also at a high.
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