Haves and Have Nots Seminar - Moody Middle School

This news article discusses how America's education system is unequal and unfair between the upper class and lower class. It provides an insight on the difference between these classes on education. Also, this article discuses different schools in California, and how unequal the schools the wealthy attend and the schools the less fortunate attend.

"On one hand, entrenched inequality threatens to create an underclass whose members' inadequate education and low skills leave them with poor prospects for full participation in the economy as earners or consumers. It can cause political instability and thus poses risks to investment and growth. On the other hand, some argue that because inequality puts more resources into the hands of capitalists (as opposed to workers), it promotes savings and investment and catalyzes growth." This article discusses important benefits and drawbacks of income inequality. It shows that this is a matter to think about, and there is no simple solution.

"Children born into low and high income families are born with similar abilities. But they have very different educational opportunities, with children in low income families less likely to have access to early childhood education, more likely to attend under-resourced schools that deliver inferior K-12 education, and less likely to attend or complete college." Income plays a great role in how different people live. People with low incomes won't have the same opportunities that people with high income do. Even though we like to think of most people being equal, the difference in how much money someone earns changes how they get their education, food, etc.

Middle-income families in other developed countries enjoyed larger increases in disposable income (leisure money) than the United States. The United States lost the title of having the "most affluent" middle class to Canada.

"In the case of the United States, the distributions of income, wages, and wealth are more dispersed than ever....while we do not aspire to equal economic outcomes, we believe strongly in equal opportunity. If inequality were to thwart the opportunities of the "have-nots," this would represent a significant violation of a basic American tenet." This article talks about how the economic inequality in the United States today has reached historically high levels. It provides statistics to support statements of inflation and inequality between the poor and middle class households with the stock market and corporate profits; or the "haves" and "have-nots". It also provides ways we can fix the "economic recession".

"This fact, however, has different implications for different observers. Many critics of higher inequality suggest that it violates basic fairness, particularly when considering, for example, the divergence of median compensation and productivity growth. Such trends, these critics hold, are evidence of working people no longer getting their "fair share" of the growth that they are helping to generate. Others note that inequality serves as a wedge between growth and living standards, funneling income largely to those at the top of the scale and thus making it harder at any given level of economic growth for living standards to grow as they have in more equitable times or for poverty to fall during business cycle expansions. Economic growth, as this report argues, has become a spectator sport for too many poor and middle-class households that watch as the gross domestic product, or GDP, productivity, the stock market, and corporate profits rise while their incomes either stagnate or grow much more slowly." This article elaborates on the opinions people with different incomes have on income inequality. Also, it provides statistical information regarding income inequality between the middle class and the wealthy.

"A new Schott Foundation for Public Education report, "A Rotting Apple: Education Redlining in New York City," reveals that the communities where most of the city's poor, black and Hispanic students live suffer from New York policies and practices that give their schools the fewest resources and their students the least experienced teachers." This article is about how the poor and lower class of the United States suffer from lack of educational opportunity. Also how blacks and hispanics are four times more likely to be enrolled in one the United States' poorest performing high schools.

"Districts with higher poverty rates have fewer highly educated, experienced teachers and less stable teaching staffs. Students from low-income New York City families of all ethnic groups have little chance of being tested for gifted-and-talented program eligibility. Few black and Hispanic students are selected for the city's top exam schools, such as Stuyvesant and the Bronx High School of Science." This article discusses the inequality in education that kids from low income families receive in comparison to kids living in economically advantaged neighborhoods. Children living in better neighborhoods are more likely to receive a proper and advanced education simply because of their class and the place they live.

" In New York City, the nation's largest school system, on average student outcomes and their opportunity to learn are more determined by the neighborhood where a child lives, than his or her abilities." Children are having their futures predetermined by the enviorment and the school systems they are a part of. This leads children with promising talents unable to utilize them due to lack of resources in their schools.

In America today, an academic achievement gap separates kids growing up in poverty from their peers in higher-income communities. Only 8% of students growing up in poverty graduate from college by age 24, compared with 80% of students in more affluent areas. This website gives lots of detail about the problems with educational opportunity gaps in America. It also has many videos going along with the articles.

"After decades of campaigning and lobbying, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, and ensured the equal treatment and equal access of people with disabilities to employment opportunities and to public accommodations. The ADA intended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in: employment, services rendered by state and local governments, places of public accommodation, transportation, and telecommunications services." This article is a timeline of rights people with disabilities have gained since the 1800s, it also highlights the social and economic barrier they faced and still have to face. The paragraph is about 1990 when the ADA was passed and equal treatment was finally ensured.

"Thirty-four of the properties are in southeast Queens - an area still struggling to recover from the recent foreclosure crisis." "This is a hand up, not a hand out," said the group's CEO Neil Hetherington. "[The families] have gone from a situation of despair to one of hope." This article provides an example of how the haves can help the have nots, while the have nots take on responsibility. The Habitat for Humanity organization says they are a "hand up, not a hand out," as they require the low income families who are going to receive a house to work along side the volunteers for a certain amount of time.

"Since then, wealth inequality in America has followed a U-shaped trajectory, declining through the Great Depression until the mid-1980s, then steadily increasing since then. Now, the richest Americans have a share of the country's wealth almost big enough to rival those in the late 1920s, according to a new study" This article shows how the wealthiest people in the United States own a large share of the country's wealth. The article also discusses the income difference between the middle and lower classes. The middle/lower classes earn $84,000, while the income of the upper class is $160,700. Finally, the article shows how almost all of the United States is composed of the lower classes (90%), while the wealthiest control 11.2% of the country's wealth according to the article. 

"In the late 1920s, the top 10 percent of Americans possessed 84 percent of the country's wealth. Since then, wealth inequality in America has followed a U-shaped trajectory, declining through the Great Depression until the mid-1980s, then steadily increasing since then. Now, the richest Americans have a share of the country's wealth almost big enough to rival those in the late 1920s, according to a new study" This article first covers how the unemployment rate in America is going down. But even though less Americans are jobless, it remains true that the top 1% of America is still getting an unrealistically high amount of that wealth. This has been a common theme throughout America and has prompted several people in the lower-middle class to riot.

"Since then, wealth inequality in America has followed a U-shaped trajectory, declining through the Great Depression until the mid-1980s, then steadily increasing since then. Now, the richest Americans have a share of the country's wealth almost big enough to rival those in the late 1920s, according to a new study" This article shows how the wealthiest people in the United States own a large share of the country's wealth. The article also discusses the income difference between the middle and lower classes. The middle/lower classes earn $84,000, while the income of the upper class is $160,700. Finally, the article shows how almost all of the United States is composed of the lower classes (90%), while the wealthiest control 11.2% of the country's wealth according to the article. 

"Workers with disabilities have more to worry about on the job than those without disabilities. They earn less than their similarly educated colleagues without disabilities, and this gap widens as they climb the educational ladder, potentially creating a disincentive to climb higher." This article talks about the inequality between people without disabilities and people with disabilities. It provides statistics on the comparison of unemployment, college degrees, and salaries between the disabled and people without disabilities as well.

A photographer talked to a 13-year old boy who said his role model was his principle. The principle had inspired so many of her students by telling them they mattered and no school was out of reach. The photographer started a fund for the school which has raised over $1 million.

"Whether Abramson's pay did or didn't have anything to do with her dismissal from the Times, one thing is certain: there is a gender wage gap. Among full-time workers, women earn 77% of what men earn. Even after accounting for the fact that women often work in different occupations and industries than men, as well as differences in work experience, union status, education and race, 41% of that gap is still unexplained. When social scientists control for every employment factor that could possibly explain the disparity, women still earn 91% of what men earn for doing the same job." This article talks about the wage gap between men and women due to gender discrimination. Women in the workforce earn 77% of what men earn which is significantly less. Income inequality due to gender discrimination is a very controversial topic in the nation and is effecting the economy as well as everyday Americans.

Studies have shown that more special-needs students tended to drop out of public schools than charter schools. Many studies were conducted with different test groups of students.

Independent experts, however, see substantial evidence that disability insurance increasingly serves as a safety net for people who cannot find jobs - people, that is, who might still have the ability to perform at least some kinds of work. The lines for disability insurance is growing rapidly. It's becoming increasingly harder for people who have disabilities to get the insurance that they need. These lines are growing larger because people get the insurance even if they don't need it. People fake disabilities if they can't find jobs and because of that people who actually need the insurance can't get it.

"Independent experts, however, see substantial evidence that disability insurance increasingly serves as a safety net for people who cannot find jobs - people, that is, who might still have the ability to perform at least some kinds of work." This article discusses how the percentage of Americans that enroll to receive federal disability payments is increasing rapidly. Some use the insurance as a safety net to provide for their financial needs when they are potentially able to participate in work. The government is losing money from the increase in those requiring disability insurance and the economy is suffering from a drop in the work force participation.

"NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Widely regarded overseas as places only for children of the rich and powerful, top American universities like Yale and Harvard are increasing efforts to attract the best international students, regardless of their financial backgrounds. " This article is about how top universities are trying to give all races a chance in being accepted there. All financial backgrounds have been disregarded as well as the increase of less discrimination.

"(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will propose that U.S.-based companies pay a minimum 19 percent tax on their future foreign earnings, capturing profits that are now often beyond the government's reach." This article is about tax and profits of oversea countries.

The $4 trillion budget would hit corporations that park profits overseas, raise taxes on the richest of the rich and increase the incomes of the middle class through new spending and tax credits. Mr. Obama will challenge the Republican Congress to answer his emphasis on wage stagnation, according to congressional aides briefed on the details. The article talks about how Obama is trying to help solve income inequality.

"Many American families, even those with relatively high incomes, are walking a financial tightrope," said Erin Currier, director of Pew's financial security and mobility project. "Many have little, if any, cushion to absorb an unexpected financial setback. It's a precarious state that threatens not just financial security, but upward mobility." This article talks about how middle class families might not be prepared for an economic crisis if there ever is one, because of the fact that they are not making as much income as the upper class families.

"Millennial men reported having median annual household income of $77,000; women as a group reported their income was $56,000: for every $1 the men earned, women earned about 73 cents. College-educated women fared slightly better: while their male counterparts pocketed a median income of $83,000, they reported earning $63,000, or about 76 cents for every dollar. " This article is about income inequality between men and women. Women are being payed less making it harder for them to save money when they start off lower than men.