Readings Essay #3

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Dr. Bordelon's English I On-Campus Web Site

Assigned Readings

Grids (Writer's Notes)

• Assigned Readings

  Additional Readings

  Introductory material on Civic Stances (PDF) Conservatism Readings (PDF) Liberalism Readings (PDF) Libertarianism Readings (PDF)

  If you're having trouble understanding the stances, try this additional explanation of them Class in America (Good essay that shows how differences in income effects health, education, social mobility, and other aspects of life) Your Taxes At Work (gov't regulation) Abstinence Only: Does it Work (On Sex Education Programs) Male Bass in the Potomac Producing Eggs Pollution Suspected Cause of Anomaly in River's South Branch (Pollution which equals gov't regulation) Our 'Kindness Deficit' of Care (Health Care) “A Living Wage That Works” (Living Wage/minimum wage - gov't regulation of economy) Staring Across A Great Divide. (Differences in income in America) Can Disabled People Be Forced to Crawl Up the Courthouse Steps?; [Editorial] (State's Rights v. citizens -- mentions conservative and liberal views of federal gov't and provides examples)

30 Issues in 30 Days
A great site for thoughtful, reasoned interviews on current topics for Civic Stances. If you want to catch up on what's been going on in the world while you were writing the last two essays, this is the place to go

• On Economics and Wages	On Individual Rights	Government Regulation
  Grounded by an Income Gap (Note that words "liberal" "conservative" and "libertarian" are used in this essay) Latest data on income inequality in America: from Jan/Feb 2007 Dollars and Sense Is the American Dream Still Possible? Class in America “Poverty and Inequality are Serious Problems in the United States” “Why Decry the Wealth Gap” "Still Movin' On Up" The Rich, The Poor, and the Growing Gap Between Them: Inequality in America The most recent report (June 2006) Economist The Rise of the Super Rich The mostest recentest report (July 2006) New York Times Census Reports Slight Increase In '05 Incomes Rick Lyman, Helena Andrews contributed reporting for this article.. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Aug 30, 2006. p. A.1 What Is a Living Wage? Jon Gertner. New York Times Magazine. New York: Jan 15, 2006. p. 38 (11 pages) Polarized Between the Rich and the Poor: America's Bleak Jobs Future Paul Craig Roberts: Counterpunch Forced to Work Off the Clock, Some Fight Back Steven Greenhouse. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Nov 19, 2004. p. A.1 Welfare's Cozy Coat Eases Norwegian Cold Ibrahim, Youssef M. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Dec 13, 1996. p. A.1 Poverty Causes Crime Poverty Does Not Cause Crime Various Theories on the Causes of Poverty Capitalism Creates Poverty A Lack of Individual Responsibility Causes Poverty A Lack of Opportunities Causes Poverty	Libertarians Join Liberals in Challenging Sodomy Law Linda Greenhouse. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Mar 19, 2003. p. A.23 Spooked Fredric Alan Maxwell. New York Times Magazine. New York: Apr 27, 2003. p. 116 (1 page) Enforcement of Civil Rights Law Declined Since '99, Study Finds New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Nov 22, 2004. p. A.17	Not So Frivolous; [Op-Ed] Bob Herbert. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 18, 2004. p. A.31 Government Programs Help the Poor Government Programs have Not Helped the Poor Government Support of Faith Based Initiatives can Help Reduce Poverty The Government Cannot Rely on Faith-Based Charities to Help the Poor

Okay: two great articles (cause and effect), kinda connected to education, but with broader ramifications.

Cause
Greetings from Idiot America
IF LINK DOES NOT WORKTo access article, 1) go to Library Links; 2) click Ebschost databases from list; 3) click "All EBSCO databases; 4) Academic Search Premier; and finally 5) type AN 18624951 into the search line

Effect
Are U.S. Innovators Losing Their Competitive Edge?
Not Invented Here
Article suggesting that America better watch it's educational back

Additional Readings

Articles from Opposing Viewpoints database

Up From the Holler: Living in Two Worlds, At Home in Neither; Class Matters
Tamar Lewin. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 19, 2005. p. A.14

A Marriage of Unequals; CLASS MATTERS: Third article of a series.
Tamar Lewin. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 19, 2005. p. A.1

On a Christian Mission to the Top; CLASS MATTERS: Fourth article of a series.
LAURIE GOODSTEIN and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 22, 2005. p. 1.1

The College Dropout Boom; CLASS MATTERS: Fifth article of a series.
David Leonhardt. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 24, 2005. p. A.1

15 Years on the Bottom Rung; CLASS MATTERS: Sixth article of a series.
ANTHONY DePALMA. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 26, 2005. p. A.1

When the Joneses Wear Jeans; CLASS MATTERS: Seventh article of a series.
Jennifer Steinhauer. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 29, 2005. p. 1.1

The Five-Bedroom, Six-Figure Rootless Life; CLASS MATTERS: Eighth article of a series.
Peter T. Kilborn. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 1, 2005. p. A.1

Old Nantucket Warily Meets the New; CLASS MATTERS -- Ninth of a series
Geraldine Fabrikant. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 5, 2005. p. 1.1

In Fiction, a Long History of Fixation on the Social Gap; CLASS MATTERS: Tenth of a series.
CHARLES McGRATH. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 8, 2005. p. E.1

Angela Whitiker's Climb; CLASS MATTERS: Last of a series.
Isabel Wilkerson. New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jun 12, 2005. p. 1.1

Articles From SIRS database

Current Population Reports
April 2005 , pp.1-9
Summary of article: Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Moving Up and Down the Income...
"From year to year, the financial well-being of most Americans changes. Summary measures, such as median income, reflect the overall net gain or loss in income, but do not indicate the amount of movement up and down the income ladder. This report focuses on the issue of movements within the income ladder using data that represent the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States as measured by the 1996 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)." (Current Population Reports)

New York Times (New York, NY)
Aug. 27, 2004 , p.A1+
Summary of article: More Americans Were Uninsured and Poor in 2003, Census Finds
"The ranks of the poor and those without health insurance grew in 2003 for the third straight year, the government reported on Thursday [Aug. 26, 2004], in a sign of the lingering pain being caused by a long slump in the job markets. Those trends, spelled out by the United States Census Bureau, signaled a clear shift in the way the 2001 recession and its aftermath have spread across the country. The economy's troubles, which first affected high-income families even more than the middle class and poor, have recently hurt families at the bottom and in the middle significantly more than those at the top." (New York Times) This article discusses statistics showing an increase in the national poverty rate and how "depending on their political beliefs, economists tend to place varying portions of blame for this on a rise in single-parent families, a withering of good jobs for people without college degrees and a shift away from anti-poverty programs by the federal government."

Greenwich Time (Greenwich, CT)
Aug. 17, 2004 n.p.
Summary of article: Income Gap up over Two Decades, Data Show
"Over two decades, the income gap has steadily increased between the richest Americans, who own homes and stocks and got big tax breaks, and those at the middle and bottom of the pay scale, whose paychecks buy less." (Greenwich Time) This article discusses the growing income disparity in the United States.

Christian Science Monitor
Feb. 11, 2004 n.p.
Summary of article: Wages up for the Well-Off, but Not for Others
"Most US workers saw their earnings fall or stagnate last year [2003], with those at the bottom of the income scale hit hardest. The trend, coming alongside a slack job market, explains why many Americans feel left out of the economic recovery--and why President Bush faces a tough sell with his campaign-trail message that there is 'good strong growth.' Democratic rivals point to 'two Americas,' one for the rich, one for the poor." (Christian Science Monitor) This article discusses the widening wage gap between the lowest- and highest-earning workers.

Dollars & Sense No. 254
July/Aug. 2004 , p.25+
Summary of article: Geese, Golden Eggs, and Traps
"The advocates of unfettered capitalism proclaim that inequality is good for the economy because it promotes economic growth. Unequal incomes, they say, provide the incentives necessary to guide productive economic decisions by businesses and individuals. Try to reduce inequality and you'll sap growth. Furthermore, the conservatives argue, growth actually promotes equality by boosting the have-nots more than the haves. So instead of fiddling with who gets how much, the best way to help those at the bottom is to pump up growth. But these conservative prescriptions are absolutely, dangerously wrong." (Dollars and Sense) The author argues that "inequality stifles growth; equality gooses it up. Moreover, economic expansion does not necessarily promote equality--instead it is the types of jobs and the rules of the economic game that matter most."

Why the Poor Don't Soak the Rich
Daedalus  Winter 2002; Lexile Score: 1470; 38K, SIRS Researcher
Summary: "Aspirations do not form in vacuums. People must be able to picture realistically the good for which they will strive. If the gap between where a person is and where he or she might hope to be is too great, certain goods are likely to seem out of reach--and hence outside the range of realistic aspirations." (Daedalus) This article looks at why the poor remain poor.

Win Win online article that argues that all is well, economically, in this great land of ours.