...holdups in a single day. Criminologists wondered if the holiday spree was the first sign of a looming crime wave in recession-battered America. Take an uptick in poverty and economic misery, toss in budget cuts to police departments across the country, and that should be a blueprint for chaos—right? Except, as it turns out, the exact opposite occurred. According to FBI statistics, crime rates went down across the board in 2009. Way down. Murder, rape, robbery, assault, auto theft—plummeted, one and all. Then, this week, the FBI released preliminary data for the first six months of 2010, and again the same pattern emerged. Violent crimes and property crimes alike have been falling in every region of the country. What gives? Have experts just completely misunderstood what causes people to commit crimes? There's certainly no shortage of theories for why crime rates have gone down over the past two years. The simplest is that crime just isn’t closely related to economic conditions. Consider, after all, the two big crime epidemics in the twentieth century—the first took root in the late 1960s, during a period of healthy growth; the other came during the economic doldrums of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The only constant here, it seems, is that both outbreaks were fueled by a major expansion of drug markets: heroin in the 1970s, crack in the 1990s. (The current recession has seen a surge in demand for prescription drugs like Oxycontin or Xanax, but, for a variety of reasons, those...
Words: 10363 - Pages: 42
...laid off or single mothers who cannot provide for their families. Society unjustly makes negative assumptions about welfare recipients. Many people believe a person on welfare is wasting taxpayer’s money. The use of language is one of the greatest necessities of life, and a key to our success. A single word, like “welfare,” can have many different meanings, yet to some it generates a negative perspective and a stereotype of a group of people. According to Gloria Naylor “words themselves are innocuous; it is consensus that gives them true power” (Peterson 234). The primary reason the United States Constitution was established was to promote the general welfare of the people, and for the government to preserve the welfare of the people. This essay will explain the origin of the word “welfare” and will consider the use of the word regarding employees’ welfare, the lesser known corporate welfare, and the welfare state. In particular, the term itself engenders such notions as health, happiness and prosperity. Originally, welfare meant being healthy and having prosperity, not necessarily enjoying wellbeing or being happy. If you study economics, “welfare or wellbeing refers to a status of emphasizing happiness and contentment, which includes one's living standards” (McQuillin 563). However, even economists realize that not all happiness derives from being financially well off. Almost everyone knows being wealthy is not the same as being happy. When Aristotle described the good life he...
Words: 1243 - Pages: 5
...“Informational Essay on Food Pantries” Information Essay On Food Pantries Have you ever worried about where your next meal was going to come from? According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “The number of homeless in Ohio is on the rise” (The Regional Food Bank of Ohio is a food pantry where anyone has a special concern for the poor, elderly, lonely, homeless, and hungry. It is a place where people from all walks of life can come together to share a hot meal and visit and enjoy each other’s company. Figure 1 Figure 2 Increase in poverty percentage in Ohio Poverty Percentage by State Hunger has affected millions of families across the United States. Many economic issues are the Cause of poverty, the use of food pantries and soup kitchens, and the disbursement of food stamps. The number of people that would receive food from a food pantry went from 250-300 all the way up to 2500-3000; this big of an increase had been related to the recession (Greenburg, Michael. American Journal of Public Health, 2010, vol.100 issue 11, p2021-2022.) Low-paying jobs are sending men and women home with only enough money on their paychecks to be able to pay rent. Due to the increasing rate of people coming into food pantries, the amount of food that the federal and state government was able to supply had to be dropped by 2/3’s due to budget...
Words: 1124 - Pages: 5
...home | | Homelessness started as far as the 1930’s when the stock market crashed causing “The Great Depression”. During this time people lost jobs and their homes. People were devastated at the fact that that they were forced to sell their belongings. Later on in the years homelessness began to increase after the war because the vets couldn’t find jobs and were forced to live on the street because no one would hire them. The reason that there are so many people homeless is because the economy. People can’t find jobs so they have to sell their home and downgrade to a smaller home or apartment. Often there are times when families are broken up because the husband can’t provide for his family and they end up on the streets. The root cause of being homeless can be explained by economics, it’s said that people who become homeless are going through a financial issue and are unable to obtain or maintain their homes. Research shows that 83% of the homeless population experience episodic, transitional, or temporary periods of homelessness. The challenges that people in poverty ridden areas in trying to keep their get a home is the level of the housing cost burden. When housing is 30% or less of monthly income then it is considered to be affordable. Data collected from the US Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey shows that 75% of the households at or below the poverty line are severely housing cost burdened. When your housing accounts for 50% or more of a household’s...
Words: 2357 - Pages: 10
...achieving their ideal American Dream. We all design and carry this image in our heads of our own American Dream. The job we hope to have and the pleasant family we hope to build and raise in our perfect ideal homes, are all images that come to mind when thinking of the American Dream. Most of us, every day of our lives, are doing the best we can. We try to make this dream become a reality, but the reality of this dream is that it’s getting harder and harder to reach; due to unemployment, poverty, and our countries overall economic state. Over the past few years the country’s economy has been in a downward spiral and we’ve reached an economic recession. Poverty and unemployment rates amongst United States citizens have sky rocketed. According to the most recent statistics provided by the US Census Bureau 33 million families, 9 million individuals, and about 15 million children are living in poverty. When those statistics are totaled up there are roughly 54 million people living in poverty and that doesn’t even include the number of homeless people that we have living in America. How could these people ever...
Words: 1281 - Pages: 6
...Preliminary Draft February 20, 2010 THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS AND SOUTH ASIA By Dr. Akmal Hussain, Distinguished Professor, Beaconhouse National University INTRODUCTION What began as a financial crisis in 2008 rapidly metastasized into a global economic crisis that pushed the world economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In this paper we will examine the origins and nature of this crisis in the context of the dynamics of world capitalism, indicate the policy challenges in the process of recovery and analyze its impact on South Asia. I. STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND FRAGILITY OF THE FINANCIAL SPHERE In the process of its growth the world economy has undergone a structural change in the post war period in terms of two important features: (i) The dominant form of the production unit of goods and services that emerged in the post war period was the large multinational corporation (MNC) in contrast to the large national corporation in the late 19th century and the small firm in the late 18th century.1 The MNCs were not only able to sell goods and services on a global scale but were able to achieve internationalization in their production processes, such that different components of a particular good could be manufactured in their facilities in different countries to take advantage of country specific resource 1 For a more detailed analysis of Growth and Structural Change in the Global Economy since the Industrial...
Words: 3201 - Pages: 13
...unfolding the paradoxes entailed to whittle a credible conclusion. It attempts to explore contradictions of democracy whether democracy is a best system of governance? Is true democracy possible? Has it to be moral in character? Why other systems of governance tend to challenge the basic fabrics of democracy? Why democracy has turned out to be more productive than other forms of government? Then focus shifts to paradoxes entailed in self evident truth of American democracy. Is American democracy a representative of a true democracy? Does it cater the smaller factions of society? Has the democratic system fostered the rights of liberty, justice, life and pursuit of happiness to good effect for masses once challenged by terrorism, racism, poverty and recession? What good it has brought to its people? Why does America deserve to lead world community? Finally, conclusion is inquired about by addressing the question that How American dream can be pursued in its true democratic meaning? Isn’t it strange that few render democracy as the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people? On the other hand, for some, it is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; a government after the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; the idea of freedom. Idea of democracy as rule of people traces its expression from Athens in ancient Greek. From a philosophical stand point doctrines of natural law evolved into the idea of natural rights...
Words: 2171 - Pages: 9
...this essay is to express how to address current issues in today’s society. The issues that I have to address are poverty, crime, education, health and a 5th problem of your choice. The 5th problem that I chose to address was jobs. I go about addressing these issues as if you were the President of the United States. This essay gives I a chance to express how you feel about these issues and what would you do to fix these problems. As President of the United States, it is my duty to address problems in this American society. The five main problem that I want to address are poverty, crime, education, health and jobs. These are important issues that I am working on fixing immediately. My plan is to dramatically decrease the poverty and crime rate. I am also going to improve education, health insurance and job opportunities. Poverty America’s poverty rate is too high. Let’s look back on 2013 poverty rate. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2013, there were 45.3 million people in poverty. For the third consecutive year, the number of people in poverty at the national level was not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate. The 2013 poverty rate was 2.0 percentage points higher than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession. In...
Words: 2119 - Pages: 9
...Human Geography 1100 Chapter discussion assignment #1 Pick a country in the global core and one in the periphery (as defined in your textbook) that have a former colonial relationship. Why does one of these countries have a larger, more diversified economy than the other? How does the world-system model help to explain these differences? Are some places caught in a poverty trap despite decolonization? The relationship between Spain and Venezuela has changed among the centuries. All began in October 12 of 1498 when Christopher Columbus arrived in what he would call later; it’s little Venice comparing this early town with the Italian city (see maps 1 and 2 on the anexus). Over time, Spain took away most of the mineral richness of Venezuela, installing kingdoms and creating small cities around the mainland. However, not all that Spaniards left in the Latin American countries were poverty, inequality and corruption. The Iberic Empire brought a whole knowledge in economy, religion, education, culture and industrialization. In this essay I would like to explain the economics systems in Spain as well as Venezuela and their neighbors of Latin America. How was Venezuela’s society build? Which are the differences between Spain and Venezuela in the economy field? Before the colonization, different types of tribes like Caribes, Yanomamis, Wayuus, Caracas, etc populated Venezuela. They had a rudimentary economy based on trades: each family was in charged of the collecting...
Words: 849 - Pages: 4
...1995, killing 12 and injuring over 5,000. The ultimate goal of the cult was to bring about chaos on an international scale culminating in a nuclear war, as a means of ushering in the apocalypse. The 1995 attack was an effort to test methods of dispersing chemical weapons, a step towards achieving that goal. Significance: Aum Shinrikyo was the first non-state actor to successfully carry out a large-scale chemical weapon attack against civilians. The cult illustrates a new face of terrorism, post-modern terrorism. Post-modern terrorism is defined as groups without specific political or sub-national goals who desire to kill as many people as possible; mass murder for its own sake, often apocalyptic and nihilist in nature. ESSAY: Use the Syllabus and Class Schedule to identify the MAJOR themes, issues, and problems we have dealt with thus far. Be able to ANALYZE these issues, NOT simply describe them, in the context of class discussion, videos, and your readings. Be able to put...
Words: 2341 - Pages: 10
...national economy increase the happiness of the nation’s citizens? Background America is still recovering from the greatest recession sense the Great Depression and many countries around the world are now struggling with bad economies, unemployment, and massive debt. But why are governments so concerned about the economy? Governments care because it is believed that a better national economy leads to a better quality of life for the nation’s citizens. So, governments spend billions of dollars as an attempt to help the nation’s economy grow, which should lead to a better life for the nation’s citizens. This seems like it has good intentions, but many governments borrow the money they use for this spending and that only creates new problems. In the United States, the total debt is greater than its total economic output, and this debt will only hinder future and long term growth. On top of all that, the idea that a better national economy will make the citizens happier overall contradicts the idea that money doesn’t buy happiness. Does this mean that money actually does buy happiness, or does it mean that the economy doesn’t have anything to do with people’s happiness? Some regions are poorer than the United States and yet are happier, an example is Latin America. Other richer countries, like the United States, Japan, and China have had great economic growth over the past few decades, yet happiness has changed very little and in the case of China it has even declined...
Words: 2981 - Pages: 12
...History Leaving Cert American Essay Notes By James Esses Mocks.ie History Leaving Cert Revision Notes James Esses Page 1 Contents 1.0 Essay 1: Changes in the US Economy from 1945-1989 ..................................................................... 3 1.1 Boom (1945-1968) .................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Bust (1968-1989)..................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Essay 2 Consumer Society post 1945 ................................................................................................ 6 3.0 Essay 3 Foreign Policy 1945-1972 ..................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Berlin ....................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Korea ....................................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Berlin Wall ............................................................................................................................. 10 3.4 Cuba ...................................................................................................................................... 10 4.0 Essay 4: How did the US become involved in Vietnam and why did it escalate in...
Words: 5670 - Pages: 23
...1. Introduction Demand for South African (S.A) labour has been undoubtedly a critical issue for the state of its economy. The country faces many issues such as jobless growth which is as a result of critical labour demand in S.A. It is important to continuously monitor changes in the labour demand because the affect several factors which have chain reactant effect. The recent financial crises for example was one of the biggest factors that recently contributed to the fragile demand for labour, many industries were hampered, jobs lost, companies left in debt amongst other things. This paper will focus on factors that determined labour demand trends in South Africa. This paper will focus on the relationship between education and labour demand, followed by a brief discussion about the productivity of labour, then, the economic growth and lastly unemployment, labour unions and price of labour is influenced by labour demand. 1. The relationship between education and labour demand Barker (2010, p.62) highlights that employers of primary segments spend large amounts of money training their workers because they want to improve labour productivity which in turn is attributed to high and rising wages. Labourers in the primary segment have prospects of promotion, as opposed to labourers in the secondary segment whom are identified as a group that have little chance of entering internal labour markets and are therefore trapped and education and the help of government will not...
Words: 1758 - Pages: 8
...policies used to reduce this problem. Introduction The issue of unemployment has been in great focus since the Great Recession took place in 2009. It is one of the leading costs to the economy in terms of inefficient production, but social costs such as monetary inequality, crime rate and poverty must be taken in account as well. Fig 1: Eurostat, 2012, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/ Being one of the most severely influenced by the crisis above all EU countries, Spain has a staggering 20% overall unemployment rate and 50% of the amount are youth. (Sinitsky, 2013) The reason for this astronomical rate is indefinite, but it could be instigated by the poorly reformed welfare system, improper allocation of governmental resources and even organizational concerns in the labor market. The reason to discuss about Spain as it is interesting to see a boom in international trade revenue but a disastrous unemployment rate. This essay will then focus on the phenomenon of youth unemployment in Spain and make an attempt to critically evaluate two government policies to reduce the problem. Causes of Youth Unemployment in Spain According to Pablo Miguel, the Spanish youth are suffering from a structural problem as identified by their government, “rooted in causes which go beyond the current economic crisis” (Miguel, 2013) which resulted in a high sensitivity to recession for them. The government has further categorized different structural weaknesses in relation...
Words: 1069 - Pages: 5
...Social Inequality essay plans for Part b) 30 mark question Evaluate the usefulness of sociological explanations of ethnic inequalities.(30) Evaluate the view that society is institutionally racist (30) Adapt according to question given Introduction Ethnic inequalities are still significant in the UK – give a few examples. Suggest some explanations e.g Racism, Institutional racism, social class of ethnic minorities (Marxism), welfare dependency (New Right). This essay will identify and assess these explanations. AO1 Define types of Racism e.g Barker and new racism, institutional racism – McPhearson report on murder of stephen lawrence – racism in met police. Jenkins suggests recruitment to jobs is more word of mouth and disadvantages ethnic minorities. Modood 1994 28% of african caribbean people surveyed said they felt they had been refused a job on grounds of race. AO2 There are many government acts such as Race relations acts which should prevent discrimination AO2 However because racism is implicit (hidden) now it can be difficult to prove in court. AO1 Marxists such as Westergaard and Resler argue that race is a distraction from the real issue which is social class. It is capitalism which disadvantages certain groups and ethnic minorities are more likely to be in lower classes. AO2 However this ignores the existence of racism in society e.g in education where black boys have the highest exclusion rates in school. AO1 Another marxist explanation by Castles...
Words: 5292 - Pages: 22
