Corporate Welfare

Corporate Welfare

Definition: any federal spending program that provide payments or unique benefits and advantages to specific companies or industries.

Fact

·         The U.S. government spent 92 billion in direct and indirect subsidies to businesses and private sector corporates entities. This is a complete waste of money!!! The money that is being put towards businesses that don’t need the subsidies that are sponsored by the government can be going towards peoples who companies really need it, or more importantly toward organizations that will benefit poverty stricken house hold.

·         People who usually support corporate welfare are only in favor of it when the government bells out their lucrative businesses for making poor “investments”.  They justify “themselves” the government as remedying some sort of market failure.

·         Subsides: support of any organization or activity financially

·         Gives money to pay a subsidy, sponsor

o   Monopolies: the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.

Short Essays "The Rich and the Rest of Us"

After viewing the Bill Oriley film that featured the heated debate between Tavis Smiley, Cornell West and Bill Oriley I came to several different conclusions due to the controversial issues being addressed in the discussion.  As the book “The Rich and the Rest of Us” written by Cornell West and Tavis Smiley points out the steadily increasing percentage of poverty in the United States, and how poverty sees no color. This debate refreshes the commonly dismissed hidden fact of prejudice assumptions in relation to poor people in the United States. When ethnicity is associated with poverty lines this creates a systematic preconceived notion towards a societies perspective on a group of individuals as a whole based on their race.

Poverty is an unfortunate factor of American society, and economics. Though economic hardship has familiarly struck the stability of the American economic system.  People have still been able to overlook the seriousness of America’s economic crisis, and focus on the ethnicity of the individuals who are in poverty and illuminate the minorities who have been poverty stricken. When in all actuallity poverty is a primary example of the flawed American economic system that has no color lines, everyone is effected by the misfortanes of poverty. Cornell West states,  “The Poverty Tour provided the opportunity to meet many people who had been living paycheck to paycheck even before the economic downturn. To so quickly slide from the great middle into the underworld of the poor validated our suspicions that perhaps these citizens never really were bona fide, middle class Americans. Indeed, some economists assert that the middle class evaporated decades ago.”  The discussion surrounded around the controversial topic concerning cast system in the United States is being questioned. How is “middle class” defined being that the current poverty stricken households were once considered the middle class in American Society.

Quotes I didnt understand

I chose to pick  this particular interview which was conducted by Amy Goodman of KPFA's The Morning show. This interview consisted of  a series of questions in relation to the book "The Rich and The Rest of Us" which was written by Cornell West and Tavis Smiley. West, and Smiley address several controversial statements that are made throughout the book. One of the few quotes that i didnt fully understand was clarified in the this interview.

"The Poverty Tour provided the opportunity to meet many people who had been living paycheck to paycheck even before the economic downturn. To so quickly slide from the great middle into the underworld of the poor validated our suspicions that perhaps these citizens never really were bona fide, middle class Americans. Indeed, some economists assert that the middle class evaporated decades ago.”

"


"  http://youtu.be/2tKxK9ZC0AY

The Rich And the Rest of Us

Presentation Draft

Internalized Identity in the Black Community:

Identity is the way you personally see yourself, not what others perceive you as because of your ethnicity, skin complexion, hair texture, or body type.

Fish Bowl Discussion/Free Write:

Young, Old

Man, Woman

Light Skin, Dark Skin

Who’s Afraid Of post Blackness?

·         Quotes: Pg80 “Was black skin a cloak of inferiority?”

·         Quotes: Pg80 “You’re black so you’re not that smart and without the helping hand of affirmative action you wouldn’t even be here.

*In the Black community do you feel that a lot of these aspects are true as far as being perceived a certain way because of your skin tone, gender, or speaking voice?

*Do you feel that these physically based assumptions mainly come from black individuals? Why?  

What Can Be Done

What can be done:

Daa’nisha Huey

August 27^th, 2012

English 4

Daraja

It’s devastating to know the statistics that have been recorded showing the dropout rates of black males particularly in the United State and particularly in Oakland California. It’s seldom to find a high percentage of black males graduating from the Oakland’s school district, but statistics commonly show black males who unfortunately  don’t live to see their graduation day due to black on black violence. The odds of black males dropping out of school or being killed before they get a chance to graduate are sky rocketing in the black low income communities of Oakland California. There are several rigorous steps that need to be put into effect in order for Oakland’s black male youth to positively prevail through the negative endeavors of their communities.

In order to overcome the statistics that have been rapidly proven to factual in the black community for black males, it’s important that the black community bands together to positively reconstruct the education system and environment for young black males to prosper from. There are not enough inspirational and motivating programs in Oakland where black males can positively be guided in a positive direction. The cycle in which black males drop out of school or choose to participate in negative activities begins at home or in their neighborhoods. Who are these young kids looking up to? Are their parents teaching them the importance of having higher education? Several would probably answer no, or sometimes.  The importance of education sadly hasn’t been reinforcement enough in their minds. If parents don’t know how to approach their youth on why negative activities catered by the streets are not the proper path to success, it would be assumed that Oakland’s community would just easily come up with a program that supported parents in talking to their children about these issues.  This would definitely improve the graduation rates in the black community. When solid foundations are set at how for youth in regards to education and street violence kids would be less likely to engage in the negative aspects that often take place in Oakland communities.

                Not only is it up to Oakland residents to push for changes within their own community, but it are up to the city as well to fund the programs. For the communities to get attention from the city they need to show that the programs that they are pithing will actually work.  It’s very obvious that the city of Oakland doesn’t really sponsor the Oakland school district or its black community. As a people blacks in Oakland must make it know that these programs are necessary for the welfare of young black males in Oakland.   

Daa'nisha Huey/Daraja English4

It’s devastating to know the statistics that have been recorded presenting the dropout rates of black males particularly in the United States in Oakland California. It’s seldom to find a high percentage of black males graduating from the Oakland’s school district, but statistics commonly show black males who unfortunately don’t live to see their graduation day due to black on black violence. The odds of black males dropping out of school or being killed before they get a chance to graduate are sky rocketing in the low income black communities of Oakland California. There are several rigorous steps that need to be put into effect in order for Oakland’s black male youth to positively prevail through the negative endeavors of their communities. In order to overcome the statistics that have been repeatedly proven to be factual in the black community for black males, it’s important that the black community bands together. Taking a stance to positively reconstruct the educational system and environment for young black males will greatly be beneficial to black males seeking higher education.