Mariana Ferreira -Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/business/economy/us-adds-165000-jobs-in-april.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Today in class, an article named "Jobs Data Eases Fears of Economic Slowdown in US". According to the text, nearly 200,000 jobs have been created monthly since the beginning of the year making the country's unemployment rate go the lowest it has been since 2008. This good news left the stock market with a 1 percent. Currently,although, unemployment rates are about 7.5% which although is a good number still could be a lot better. Some people such as Alan Krueger have been very optimistic about the new status of the country stating that :“While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression". Other people although such as Mr.Daco believe the country would have been better off and further in its economy if it wasn't for the government, meaning the nearly 200,000 jobs are not making a great difference in the economy.

Based on what you have heard today do you believe adding more jobs to the country will ease the economy? Explain.

Danielle Calandra 2nd Current Event

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/03/27/need-for-networking-puts-black-job-seekers-at-disadvantage/?KEYWORDS=racial+inequality

This article Need for Networking Puts Black Job Seekers at Disadvantage is an opinion article by Neil Shah. Shah talks about how African American job seekers are at a disadvantage when applying for a job due to the increasingly important "social capital" seen as needed in order to get the better, higher paying jobs. Social capital is the network of people you know and who are able to help you get a job and then work for the higher paying promotions. This Shah says, is putting minorities at a disadvantage because these people don't have the well established contacts through family and friends who've been involved in a business for many years. Shah also talks about how the jobless rate has been and continues to be higher for African Americans in the United States than whites and that in-group favoritism is helping this rate stay this way. This favoritism Shah talks about isn't illegal but helps to reproduce the racism and job inequalities.

Do you agree with Neil Shah in that African Americans don't have as much of a "social capital" as whites? Also, do you see "social capital" or having contacts within a company as important in order to get a job, and then exceed at it?

Zach Chartrand Current Event #2

The teen clothing company, Wet Seal, has settled a class action law suit with their employees for $7.5 million. This comes after the large scale firing of African American workers and managers throughout the company. The company states that they were just changing their image, however, it seems as though there is much more to this issue than what they are saying.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-wet-seal-naacp-lawsuit-20130509,0,4733633.story

If the company was truly “changing their image” how should they have gone about doing this as to not seem racist?

Dan Borella Current Event #2

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/298485-chc-chairman-rips-heritage-immigration-report-as-racism-and-xenophobia

 My current event today was about a law suit that took place somewhere on the southern half of the country that was about a comment that the Heritage Foundation made in regards to an immigration study.  The comment was about immigrants and Hispanics in particular having a lower intelligence capability.  Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the group’s study “ugly racism and xenophobia dressed up in economic hyperbole” upon hearing about the incident. This whole incident started a bunch of people to begin discussing statistics and People saying that Hispanics are not even capable of reaching as high of an IQ of whites.  Many other things had been discussed but, long story short, it was just a bunch of racist things toward Hispanics being tossed around.  

My question to you is: What do you think about news like this? Though it was based on data collected in some study, is it right to release it to the public? And do you think that the study was corrupt in any way?

Maxine Baker Current Event #2

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-21/world/38718054_1_human-rights-violations-political-donations-u-s-policy

The article I found on the Washington Post is talking about how China "turned their tables” and is now criticizing the United States and its record on human rights. China is basically saying that the United States has a serious problem when it comes to sex, racial and religious discrimination. This discrimination plays a major role in the right to vote for American citizens. Also, China reported that we give out to many human rights to all the races in our country. We have many different races integrated into our small country and some of our human rights, like the right to bear arms, is a danger to everyone around us. These reports came out through the media after the United States stated it was wrong for the Chinese government to strengthen their voter’s requirements. China did this in hope to try and keep people how may rebel against the government out of the voters booths.

Why do you think that China thinks that the amount of human rights the United States allows its citizens is wrong, too much and dangerous? Do you agree or disagree with China's idea that United States citizens are allowed too many human rights of equality?

Sasha Barry Current Event #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/business/racial-wealth-gap-widened-during-recession.html?pagewanted=all&pagewanted=print

The article that I found from the New York Times was about how race is still affecting the lives of people in everyday life in America today. The ways that segregation has led to the overall harder life for people of a non-white race, is continuing to affect them in society today. Studies done in 2010 are revealing that then and now, the rate at which the recession affected black and Hispanic families, is not getting any better. These families are losing houses more often, finding themselves with a later retirement, and not having as much wealth as the average white family has in America. Researches are looking for ways to help these families, and make the wealth gap between races smaller, but are finding this very difficult.

Why do you think the recession hit the Black and Hispanic families the hardest? Do you think there is any real way to help this issue and make the wealth gap between races throughout the country smaller?