00 a gallon, and rents increasing, along with the rising cost of food in America, it is fair to suggest that more people will be slipping down below the lower middle class into the world of poverty.
It is very easy to see why the minimum wage did not increase for more than ten years; the Republican Party was in control of Congress from 1994 through 2007 (January). Republicans generally support business and not social programs, so it wasn't until the Democrats became the majority in Congress in 2007 that the minimum wage was bumped up. It will rise to $6.55 an hour in July 2008, then to $7.25 an hour in July 2009. But by 2009, what will $7.25 be worth? With inflation, it might not be worth much more than it is right now, and the working poor will continue to struggle to keep their kids fed and keep the household intact.
THREE: How can this problem best be addressed? Perhaps by identifying the greatest challenges to African-Americans in 2008, for starters. That question was put to several black leaders - "...Black America's keenest minds" - by writer Brentin Mock in the magazine Essence. Donna Brazile, a strategist in the Democratic Party said the "most appalling thing" she sees are the "inequities" and bad conditions in schools where black children attend classes. The per-pupil spending is a big problem; Brazile points out that in school districts serving mostly students of color, "states and localities spend on average $908 less per student and $825 less in districts serving poor students compared with what they spend in districts that are wealthy and white." Scholar Cornel West is quoted in the Essence article as saying the "greatest threat is poverty." He mentions that "nearly 25% of Blacks live in poverty," but only 8.2% of Whites (according to the 2006 U.S. Census data).
The president of Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey Canada, explains that because Black children are so often stuck in schools that are ill equipped to train them or teach them what they need to know, they are going to suffer. If people aren't prepared to "increase their skills to be able to compete on a higher level," he asserts, "They end up living on the margins of society...
or, some work two jobs just to pay the bills. Furthermore, Newman's demographic and field research demonstrates that America's largest group of impoverished citizens is not the unemployed, but the working poor, who receive little political attention or credit for their struggles. Both traditional liberals and conservatives will find a great deal to take issue with in Newman's book. Liberals who defend the current welfare system may be angry at
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Internet predators seem to have a penchant for engaging adolescents in areas that are able to be monitored for content. The law enforcement via federal grants can track and collect information on a particular IP address to determine precisely what the intent is on that individual and use that as a means to limit his internet activity. A special program can be installed onto the computer of the solicitor
Shame in My Game: The Economic Sociology of Poverty Poverty in America is such a politicized topic that it can be difficult for even the most neutral people to discuss. Part of the reason that poverty is so political is that most Americans have a romanticized notion of the free-market system and believe that the American dream is easily achieved if one applies sufficient hard work. However, the reality is
Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman [...] how social literacy created what we call childhood, and why is childhood threatened today? Author Postman believes childhood is threatened today because children do not have a chance to be children. Modern developments like television and other media are rapidly what the author calls "disappearing" childhood because they alter the way children and families experience early life, and pressure children into becoming
Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest offers an ironic portrayal of mental health and mental illness. The story of Randle McMurphy, told through the eyes and ears of Chief Bromden, shows how restrictive social norms and behavioral constraints are what cause mental illness. Mental illness and deviance are socially constructed. The men in the institution have been labeled as deviants, many of them as criminals too. Yet
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