Social Inequality

An article from England, but I think this applies to the US as well.

Unemployment is a greater cause of debt problems for those aged under 25 than any other age group, an advice charity has warned.

"It reflects the acutely vulnerable economic position that many young people now find themselves in and is likely to overshadow the lives of a significant proportion of young people for many years to come."

Thorns: Young people usually have less financial reserves, so it far harder for them to live while unemployed, putting them at far higher risk of massively going into debt.

Younger people are also harder to employ because they have less experience than someone ten years older.

Also, if someone is unemployed at a younger age, they are far more susceptible to problems, both financial and otherwise, later in life.

Despite having one of the nation’s highest jobless rates, North Carolina’s government took steps to enact some of most severe benefit cuts in the country. The measure would shrink the maximum period of time someone could receive state jobless benefits to 20 weeks from 26 weeks and reduce the maximum weekly benefit to $350 from $535. The state Senate gave preliminary approval to the proposal on Tuesday, and Gov. Pat McCrory (R) has promised to sign it into law, which would take effect July 1.

Thorns: Obviously, many people need the help, but unfortunately, as unemployment persists, it begins to have an impact on taxpayers. There exists a moral issue for if greater society is responsible and if tax money, and how much, should be given to unemployed people.

This article shows how many small towns are dependent on the large industry, and have to compete tirelessly for factories to be in their towns. With both falling unemployment and a falling population, the county really needed the jobs.

Thorns: For every county that gets a factory, there are a few who don't. Also, these factories may be harmful to the environment near the towns, but due to the unemployment situation, some of these concerns may be ignored.

Unemployment in an international problem

The euro-area economy will shrink in back-to-back years for the first time, driving unemployment higher as governments, consumers and companies curb spending, the European Commission said.

The 17-nation euro zone’s gross domestic product will fall 0.3 percent this year, compared with a November prediction of 0.1 percent growth, the Brussels-based commission forecast today. Unemployment will climb to 12.2 percent, up from the previous estimate of 11.8 percent and 11.4 percent last year.

Thorns: Europe has had an even harder time recovering the crisis than the United States. Some analysts are even afraid that unemployment will become "entrenched", meaning that many people could give up hope and stop looking for work.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped 20,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 362,000.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have trended downward recently. The four-week average has declined 7.5% since mid-November and fell to a five-year low three weeks ago.

Still, the increase puts applications back in the 360,000-to-390,000 range, where they have fluctuated since early last year.

Thorns: Unemployment is not improving as fast as many would like it to. I would assume that many of the unemployed do not have education and have been unemployed for months, meaning that there will have to be a quite significant improvement in the economy before this demographic is hired on a large scale.

I chose this article to see why unintended pregnancy rates are so high in the U.S.

I wanted to see what percentage of women use birth control and if there are any correlations to demographics.

 "Forty-three million women of childbearing age (69%) are at risk of unintended pregnancy"

"Eighty-four percent of black women who are at risk of unintended pregnancy currently use a contraceptive method, compared with 91% of their Hispanic and white peers, and 92% of Asian women"

"Ninety-two percent of at-risk women living at 300% or more of the federal poverty line are currently using contraceptives, compared with 88% among those living at 0–149% of poverty"

Golden Ideas:

in 2006, 6.7 million pregnancies (49%) were unintended

though some were accepted, more than 4 in ten (43%) ended in abortion

while the national unintended pregnancy rate has remained the same, poor women (living below the federal poverty line) had a 50% increase in unintended pregnancies while women living at or above 200% of the federal poverty line had a 29% decrease in unintended pregnancy rates.

Thorns:

"These data suggest that women who lead stable lives—women who are older, more affluent and better-educated—tend to have better reproductive health outcomes, while women whose lives are less stable, such as younger, poorer or less educated women, have higher rates of unplanned pregnancies, unwanted births and abortions,"

this angers me a little because they seem to completely disregard the disparities in the health care system. Women with higher-income jobs tend to have health insurance and a much easier time affording and accessing birth control, which probably is the biggest factor. An unstable life does not cause someone to get pregnant. Women with both stable and unstable lives have sex. The stability of a woman's life does prohibit her from getting pregnant.

Questions:

Golden Ideas:

"Unintended pregnancy rates are highest among poor and low-income women, women aged 18–24, cohabiting women and minority women."

women without high school degrees have the highest unintended pregnancy rates

rates decrease as years of education attained increase

Thorns:

rate of unintended pregnancy rates is 5 times higher among poor women than among higher-income women

black women have the highest unintended pregnancy rate, double that of non-hispanic, white women

Questions:

why are low-income women more prone to unintended pregnancies?

fault in the system

Main Ideas: Are people becoming dependent on unemployment benefits? Does it matter if it saves them the misery of extreme poverty?

People who stay employed have trouble finding work as time goes on.

Thorns: Though it is a difficult questions to ask. If there is dependance, steps should be taken to eliminate it without harming the people who need the benefits.

There is no solution for people whose long-time unemployment concerns employers.

Main ideas: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 27,000 last week, an indication that hiring could improve.

Still, unemployment remains high. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent in January from 7.8 percent in December. Economists expect the rate will decline if hiring continues at last year’s monthly pace of 180,000. The rate fell 0.7 percentage points in 2012.

Thorns: Though unemployment applications have decreased, there are still many people unemployed, some who have run out of benefits.

Main Ideas: Legislation was approved in early January extending federal unemployment benefits that would have expired without action from Congress.

The legislation will extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program through 2013.  This means that unemployment compensation will continue for unemployed workers who are currently collecting federal jobless benefits. Unemployed workers who run out of state benefits during 2013 will now be eligible for benefit extensions, as well.

Thorns: Though it is good that people are getting help, when people are unemployed they are receiving taxpayer money instead of paying taxes.

What are the REAL root causes of domestic violence? This question doe not have a set definition. The fact of the matter is that domestic violence can occur under a broad range of circumstances, and is sometimes even a hereditary habit. 

Here is an excerpt from an article from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, published in 2003:

"the roots of domestic violence can be attributed to a variety of cultural, social, economic, and psychological factors.49 As a learned behavior, domestic violence is modeled by individuals, institutions, and society, which may influence the perspectives of children and adults regarding its acceptability.....Psychopathology, substance abuse, poverty, cultural factors, anger, stress, and depression often are thought to cause domestic violence. While there is little empirical evidence that these factors are direct causes of domestic violence, research suggests that they can affect its severity, frequency, and the nature of the perpetrator's abusive behavior."

  The article reinforces the idea that there is no real root cause to domestic violence, and sheds light on the fact that todays media and other "societal institutions" (like violent movies or videogames, community norms, and cultural beliefs), reinforce the illusion that violence is "okay" and should be tolerated/regarded as a norm .

  This led me to thinking about the media, and the messages that it sends across the public. Many tv shows, advertisements, magazines, and even music today is degrading to women, objectifying them, while glorifying men .