How to deal with poverty in the United States
Although all other nations view the United States as the richest country in the world, poverty still exists in this multi-cultural country. The United States has far more billionaires than any other countries in the world. However, the distance between the rich and the poor is also very huge in this country. The recession in December 2007 has especially widen this distance and also worsen the poverty crisis in the US.
The World Bank reported in August 2008 that there has been no major poverty reduction in the last couples of decades across the whole world. The only nation that sees poverty reduction is China. If China is not counted towards the calculation, poverty across the world only fell by 10 percent. The US also has to face several turmoil and crisis that make poverty an even more complicated issue.
The poverty rate soared from 13,2% in 2008 to 15% in 2009 due to financial crisis. This is the highest percentage ever since 1959 when the US government started calculating the poverty percentage. There are 45 million American living in poverty in 2009, which is a big number anyway. Child poverty is also an issue, one of every five children in the US is living in poverty and struggling to meet the basic requirements and standards.
Getting rid of poverty seems to be the ultimate issue that is facing all nations regardless developed or developing. However, the solution to this issue is not easy to carry out, especially on a wide scale as each nation has its own characteristics. The US government is doing its best to increase the overall living standards of all its citizens. In 2010, when the economy is seeing signs of recovery from the crisis, the number of jobless claims decreases and the number of job vacancy also increases accords the nation. Maybe this is a good sign that the US is gaining control over the crisis and may find ways to decrease poverty in the near future.
Should we be against oil drilling?
Recently we have seen a great deal of oil spilling around the world. Needless to say, these oil spilling occurrences have imposed a great threat to the surrounding environment. Many parties and organizations around the world have protested against oil drilling activities, especially unsecured ones. However, up till now, the effect of these protests have been minimal, due to the huge financial profit that oil brings back.
To effectively reduce the adverse impact oil spills have on the environment, we should try every possible method to clean oil spills as well as purify the affected area in the shortest time possible. Many green parties in the United States are opposed to oil drilling and have been actively involved in oil spill cleaning activities. One of the most active states in the United States that is affected by oil spilling is South Carolina. South Carolina has more than 180 miles of coastline, with many inlets and islands. Before the Gulf Coast spill, the Us have already undergone more or less than 40 spills with each greater than 1,000 barrels since 1964. In the oil-affected areas, animals, fish, birds and other sea life have been destroyed. Oil cannot fully dissolve in water so too much oil can cause dramatic decrease in the level of oxygen and therefore make fish and sea plant die.
Oil cleaning activities should be performed in a hurry and thorough manner so as to get rid of oil spills the fastest way. Too much delay or lack of effective cleaning facility can result in environmental catastrophe.
Green parties around the world should do their best to help in this oil cleaning process. In fact, they have helped out a lot. Many animals and lots of plants and sea life have been saved thanks to the wholehearted activities of environmental-aware people and parties.
Breast Cancer Charity Work
Each year more and more women are diagnosed with breast cancer. The amount of death due to breast cancer also increase dramatically over time. Today, not only the developed countries are affected with this disease but many developing countries also have a high level of deaths due to this disease. Many organizations have established breast cancer charity work to help people cope with this illness. These activities have helped many people with financial issues to cope with the disease, mane people have therefore been cured.
Breast cancer can happen to any woman, at any time. However, the disease tends to occur when women reach their middle age or menopause period. The most effective way to cope with the disease is to prevent it before it happens to you. Each 6 months each woman should go to the doctor and have their breast tested for signs of breast cancer. If you know the disease early you will have a higher possibility of surviving.
To cure breast cancer, doctors often advise patients to cut off one part of the breast that is effected with cancer. After the treatment and the surgery, many women find themselves having difficulties getting back to their usually, especially their sex lives. Many choose Silicone Breast Augmentation as a way to feel "normal" and to gain back confidence in their life.
Breast Cancer Charity Organizations are here to help all kinds of people to cope with this disease. Whenever a patient have difficulties coping with this fatal disease, they can consult the voluntary specialist.
Green parties all over the world, especially in the United States have established many kinds of Breast cancer assistance centers. Due to the high number of breast cancer patients in this country, it is highly beneficial to the patients. If the patient has difficulties coping with the illness financially the organization will help her find support and donors so that she will have a chance to cure herself of the disease.
About gun control policy in the United States
Are you concerned with the authorized gun possession policy in the United States? Are you a US person who owns a gun? Well, there are much controversies over the gun control policy not only in the United States but also in many other countries around the world.
Reasons Against This Policy
According to the Gun Control Facts’s statistics, in 2009, there is 39 percent of all American voted against the legality of gun control. Many citizens demanded that the government should prohibit personal gun possession and use of gun as a means of security protection. But many people doubted the effect of such prohibition, since there are black markets for trade of guns and firearms around the US.
Gun is accounted for thousands of children’s death every year in the US and the statistics have shown that gun is the sources for illegal transfer of gun and firearms in the hands of the criminals. The case of the Columbine High School mass assault can be prevented if gun control would have been prohibited. The police have found out that the two students who committed the crime have violated at least 20 gun control laws due to loopholes in the rules. The strongest argument against gun control policy is that nine among the safest states in the United States allow its people to carry gun with them.
The controversies will go on and on as a solution has yet to be made. AS we have already said earlier, posing gun control policy will not help prevent crime as the criminals have many means of attaining guns and firearms from the black markets. There are many pros and cons against the carry of gun but the Second Amendment has granted this right of every citizen. Needless to say, being able to carry gun with us when we are moving around makes us feel much safer. Possessing a gun is not a problem if we know how to rightly use it.
The Hassle Versus the Benefits of Learning the Web as a Senior Citizen
- Image by dotdean via Flickr
We’ve all heard about them or seen them at work: they’re called “Wired Seniors.” They’re the ones who talk about sending emails to their great-grandchildren, they spend their money shopping online at stores like JRDunn.com or they create a facebook page to connect with their high school friends from the 1930s. They laugh at the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”And then there are the others, that portion of the elderly population who are simply afraid to try something new, or merely don’t see it as necessary. Some have reportedly said they are worried they’ll break something, and others have genuine privacy concerns. So is it worth it for senior citizens, particularly those who are well into their senior years, to learn to navigate the Internet? Well, there are two sides to that coin. For those who enjoy communicating, it certainly opens doors. Let’s face it: grandkids are more likely to send an email than a letter these days, because it’s the culture in which they’ve grown up. Also, many community centers and public libraries offer free courses for seniors to learn the internet from the very beginning, like, “What is a mouse?” It gives the elderly more independence by being able to do their own banking online and pay their own bills electronically.But there are downsides, too. Seniors are often the targets of scams and online financial predators. It’s not because they are any less savvy; it is because they are generally from a more trusting generation that they fall prey to these predators. Also, there’s something to be said about hearing the voice of a grandchild, or seeing the handwriting of a letter in the mail as opposed to email, which can appear cold in comparison.And then there are a third category of seniors: those older Americans who would like to get online to learn the ways of the new technological culture, but who don’t yet have access to broadband or high speed internet. Many of America’s rural residents have been told they won’t have high speed internet access until 2013.
Research on Preemie Babies Leads to Lives Saved
Imagine a tiny baby, born four months too early, struggling for his life in a tiny incubator inside one of the nation’s Neonatal Intensive Care Units. He is one of thousands of babies born too early in the United States each year. He is at greater risk for brain hemorrhages, blindness and developmental problems. Since the lungs are the last part of the human body to develop inside the womb, it is respiratory problems that plague most of these fragile human beings.It’s often said that research can lead to life-saving medicines or procedures. In the case of preemie babies, the evidence of that is documented and easy to see.The March of Dimes, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money for research on prematurity and how it can be prevented, funded research that resulted in the application of “Lung surfactant” in preemies. Lung surfactant is the slimy substance on the lungs that allows them to open and close, pumping air in and out. It also happens to be one of the last things to form in the human body, so many preemies are born without it, unable to breathe.The research mentioned discovered that surfactant can actually be borrowed from calves and pigs and transplanted into premature human beings, allowing them to breathe. These findings have led to hundreds, of not thousands of babies born as early of 25 weeks of gestation to live, whereas if they would have been born before this research was conducted, they would have had no chance of survival.This raises the question: how involved should the US government be in allocating funding toward life-saving research like this? To think of how money could directly impact the war on cancer, the fight to eradicate Alzheimer’s, and studies on the factors leading to Schizophrenia is a thought worth pondering.
Humanitarianism After the Shock Factor Wears Off
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It is always heartening to see humanitarian aid flow in from around the world shortly after a natural disaster strikes. Somehow, it is a comfort to those watching from their televisions thousands of miles away, to know that despite the fact that they can’t do much to help, help is nonetheless on its way.One of the most vivid examples of the outpouring of international humanitarian aid after a crisis was in the earthquake that rocked Haiti in January of 2010. Although it took a few days due to the obliterated infrastructure of Haiti’s roads and airports, help did arrive, with the United States leading the way. Many doctors unselfishly volunteered their skills and time, working with both the government and private groups. The money alone that Americans doled out of their pockets to organizations like The American Red Cross surpassed the expectations of many of the charities themselves.But what happens when the “shock factor” wears off in such a humanitarian crisis, as it always does? Who is left to pick up the pieces of reclaiming property, restructuring programs, and establishing a status quo again after all the foreigners leave?This task often belongs to the locals, despite the fact that their infrastructure has been demolished. Again, Haiti has been a classic example. Once the broken bones were set and the dead buried, many aid groups packed up and left. What remained for months upon months were enormous tent cities of refugees who now had a new way of life, completely different from before.Long-term strategic planning and rebuilding is something that should be added to humanitarian groups’ emergency response plans. If the USA and its humanitarian groups are going to give aid to its neighbors in crisis, as they rightly should, then they should ensure that the aid is best used by employing long-term solutions, not just quick-fixes.
Foreign Language in America: It Wasn’t That Long Ago
Muni Bonds vs BAB Bonds, Investment, and Our Society
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Hermits may have no need for investment, but people who live in society have a duty to regularly and prudently invest in as many diverse instruments as they can. This helps a society establish itself on a strong economic footing because ultimately, it is your investment that forms the liquid capital with which a society carries out its various activities. Bonds are an important form of investment. People buy government bonds because of the security that they offer. Although bonds can yield less than other forms of investment like stocks, they provide steady income in the long run. That is why long term investors like to hedge their investments with bonds.
There are two types of bonds, municipal or muni bonds and BAB or Build America Bonds. Muni bonds vs BAB bonds is a hotly debated topic among investors. Municipal bonds usually come with tax exemption, although they yield less than BABs. BABs are issued by local and state governments, and the interest generated and accrued for bondholders is taxable. It is usual for BABs to attract foreign investment. Foreign investors are often more interested in BABs because of their high yield.
In society, investing in bonds is usually done by people of a certain economic status, the so-called middle class. People with a great deal of money often go for stocks or other riskier forms of investment. While society welcomes such risky investment to spur productive development and growth, people of lesser means are wise to hedge their investment bets. Unless you play it smart, you run the risk of becoming a burden to society if you lose big with a portfolio of stocks. Some people see stocks as formalized gambling where big risks can reap big rewards. However, it’s only those who can afford big loses who should attempt this kind of investment.
The Flag as Anything But
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If you come across an elderly military veteran, ask him or her about how the American flag should be respected. More likely than not, you will hear details about decorum, folding, respect and etiquette. At one time in American history, the flag was the flag, and nothing more. It was flown on flagpoles and waved as a banner on the battlefield. It appeared in official American or military logos. But it was not a style icon as it is used today.This casual regard truly bothered some military veterans who fought for the freedoms the flag represented. To go to the mall and see teenage girls with patches of the US Flag draped over their derrieres, or to see it appear, in part, on children’s’ tattered shoes still makes some Americans shake their heads in disgust.One of the more touching signs of respect for the American flag was caught on a security camera in 2010, when a homeless man came across a flagpole that had crashed to the ground in a thunderstorm. The man retrieved the flag from the ground, and in the pouring rain, took time and great effort to fold it properly in its triangular shape.The liberties Americans are granted when it comes to the national flag makes visitors from some other nations shake their heads too, but for different reasons.Someone who has lived in mainland China under the People’s Republic of China finds it incredible that Americans have the right to “express” themselves by burning the flag, if they so choose.It’s hard to know what Betsy Ross, who legend says sewed the first American flag, would think about this. It may be easier to imagine what George Washington or Abraham Lincoln would have thought. The irony of using the freedoms granted by a nation symbolized by the very symbol you are effacing would likely make them shake their heads, too.