Welfare Reform - Welfare Recipients MUST take Personal Responsibility E

Welfare Reform - Welfare Recipients MUST take Personal Responsibility   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Public Welfare is an important support system of the United States government. Welfare has its benefits, but the system has pitfalls. Instead of abolishing welfare as critics of the system suggest, reforms can be made to correct the problems while government, either on the state or federal level, can continue to assist the impoverished.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The term welfare is used to describe a variety of programs that provide income support and create a safety net for poor individuals and families. Such benefits include Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, food stamps, housing allowances, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Aid To Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) enables states to provide cash payments to children that are deprived of the care or support of a parent. In terms of welfare reform, this is the program most often discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The media has created many myths regarding welfare and the reasons the system should be done away with. Stating that the majority of new welfare recipients are poor, single mothers, claims have been made that poor women have more children because of the incentives of welfare benefits. It has been proven that is no correlation between women's choice to have children and welfare benefit levels. Furthermore, for each additional child, a mother can expect an additional $90 of AFDC benefits, far too low to serve as any type of incentive. In addition, those states that provide higher benefits do not necessarily show higher birth rates among their welfare recipients. Families receiving AFDC benefits have 1.9 children, just about the same as the national average. (ACLU 1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another myth created by the media concerns the amount of money spent and the results. It has been said that after spending billions of dollars since the mid-1960's on anti-poverty programs, there have been little or no results. To begin with, spending on AFDC between 1964 and 1994 was only $500 billion, less than 1.5% of federal spending for that period. Further, there have been results. Between 1964 and 1973, the poverty rate fell from 19% to 11%. It is true that since 1973, poverty has increased. This is due to economic forces such as declining real wages, rather than a failure of the system itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A third myth regarding welfare concer... ...People must be held responsible for their actions: economic and moral failures are not society's fault. As Speaker of the House Gingrich said, "We are re-establishing work as an American tradition." (US News & World Report 12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The welfare system is an important aspect of American society. It assists the impoverished individuals and families of our nation. It helps support the unemployed during their time of need. The welfare system must remain to help people get back on their feet, as it was designed. However, it must be reformed so that dependence on government aid is avoided. Works Cited American Civil Liberties Union: The Civil Liberties Issues of Welfare Reform.  New York: The American Civil Liberties Union, 1995. â€Å"Five Media Myths About Welfare.† Extra 1-3. Hoehn, Richard. Blueprint for Social Justice: Let's Get Real About Welfare.  New Orleans: Twornery Center for Peace Through Justice, 1995. Kaus, Mickey. â€Å"The Revival of Liberalism.† New York Times. 9 August 1996: A27 â€Å"Say You Want A Revolution.† US News and World Report. 9 Oct 1995: 11-14 Schiller, Bradley, â€Å"Why Welfare is Still So Hard To Reform.† Challenge November-December 1995: 16-19

Rationing During World War Ii

Rationing During World War II 30 March, 2012 Rationing During World War II Rationing is defined as a fixed allowance of provisions of food, especially for soldiers or sailors or for civilians during a shortage (dictionary. com). In 1942 a rationing system began to guarantee minimum amounts of things people needed. During World War II, people couldn’t just walk into a store and buy whatever they wanted. Ration books are books that contained coupons where shopkeepers could cut out the coupon for the person to use.War ration books and tokens were issued to each American family, controlling how much gas, tires, sugar, meat, silk, shoes, nylon and other items any person could buy (Rationing on the US Homefront). The Office of Price Administration (OPA) issued each person in a household to get a ration book, even children and babies. Ration books were organized by color: buff-colored books were mostly for adults, green ration books were for pregnant women, nursing mothers and childr en under the age of five, and blue ration books were for children from ages six to sixteen (Rationing on the US Homefront).On National Registration day, 29 September, 1939, every person in a household had to fill out a form explaining with details about who lived in their house. Ration stamps were only valid for a certain period of time so it would prevent hoarding of the stamps. The government issued ration books because they were worried that when items became scarce that the prices would go up, and poor people couldn’t buy the things they needed (Barrow, 2010). Rationing made sure that people got an equal amount of food every week. The government tried their hardest to make it fair for everyone.Still, some people thought that rationing was unfair (Barrow, 2010). People were encouraged to provide their own food in their homes thus starting the ‘Dig for Victory! ’ campaign. The ‘Dig for Victory! ’ campaign was where men and women made their yards an d flower-beds into gardens to grow vegetables (Dig For Victory! , 2004). A typical ration for one adult per week was: butter 50g (2oz), sugar 225g (8oz), cheese 50g (2oz), jam 450g (1lb) every two months, bacon and ham 100g, meat to the value of 1s. 2d (1 shilling and sixpence e er week, eggs 1 fresh egg a week, dried eggs 1 packet every four weeks, margarine 100g (4oz), milk 3 pints (1800 ml), tea 50g (2oz), sweets 350g (12oz) every four weeks (Barrow, 2010). With the above list of rationed items, each person was allowed sixteen points to use on whatever rationed item they wanted. Pregnant women, mothers who are nursing their children or children under the age of five were allowed to pick their choice of fruit, daily pint of milk and double eggs first (Barrow, 2010). Clothes rationing began two years after food rationing started.During World War II, there was a shortage in material for clothing. The shortage made people to â€Å"make due and mend† so that way factory workers could make uniforms, and parachutes for the war (Giullian, 2010). The government gave each person a ration book for clothes. Just like food rationing, when people wanted to buy new clothes, all they had to do was bring their ration book to the store and then buy they clothes they wanted, then you hand over your ration book to the storekeeper and they mark off what the person got in their ration books.The coupon system allowed people to get a new set of clothing each year. Coupons were a different color so they wouldn’t use all their coupons at once. The government told the people when they could use their other coupons. At first, each person was given 60 coupons to last them the whole year. Later on the coupon amount dropped to 48. Children were assigned an extra 10 ration coupons for their clothing in case they grow during the year. What would you buy with 60 coupons to last you the whole year?Fourteen years of rationed food and it finally came to an end because meat and ba con restrictions were lifted. Rationing of food ended nine years after the war ended. Rationing ended on 4 July, 1954 (Barrow, 2010). Fourteen years of rationing, people could finally enjoy buying the necessities they needed for their daily life. Men, women, and children went back to a normal lifestyle they were used to. References Barrow, M.. (2010, Month. Day). In  Rationing During WWWII.Retrieved Mar. 26, 2012, from http://www. woodlands-junior. kent. sch. uk/Homework/war/rationing. htm (2004, Mar. 1 ). In  Dig for Victory!. Retrieved Mar. 26, 2012, from http://h2g2. com/dna/h2g2/A2263529 Giullian, M.. (2010, May. 10). In  Rationing. Retrieved Mar. 25, 2012, from http://ussslcca25. com/rationing. htm In  Rationing on the US Homefront during WWII. Retrieved Mar. 25, 2012, from http://www. ameshistoricalsociety. org/exhibits/events/rationing. htm

Participatory Workplace

The organization to which I am affiliated employs about five employees. The owner of the workplace is our boss. Typically, the organization is receptionist; that is, it is produces service-oriented products. The organization produces only hair products since it has limited resources to diversify product sale. Compared with other business establishments, the organization is small. In my 25 years of work, the organization grew little probably because its capital base was insufficient for expanding capital outlay. The organization though continues to provide the public quality hair products. Its supply chain of hair products is relatively open and diverse. The organization can procure hair products from different manufacturers. This makes transactions more competitive (because of the existence of many manufacturers). The organization is typically controlled by the principles of human resource management. Independent contractors are used for the procurement of supplies. Hiring of employees involves several stages. First is the identification of positions vacant. Second is finding potential recruits to fill these vacancies. Third is training the recruits to ensure that they will become high performing employees. The selected recruits will be hired. They will be given employment packages and benefits (corollary to their type of work). Terms of employment and regulations of the firm will be discussed in scheduled sessions. This is done to make the employees aware of the firm’s policies and current economic standing. Regulations will serve as limits to employee behavior in the workplace. Most of the time, regulations are systematically arranged in manuals which are given to employees. In the case of my organization, selection of potential employees is easy and not as restrictive as that of large business establishments. Usually, selection of potential employees and the training period are limited to 2 or 3 weeks. Orientation of the organization’s policies and regulations usually take a day (this is so since the organization is small). In sociology, centralization is defined as the process by which activities of an organization, especially those about decision-making are concentrated within particular positions or areas. Centralization can be vertical or horizontal. Vertical centralization is the typical relationship between departments and the board of directors. The board of directors usually provides the general framework of a given policy. The managers of the departments implement the provisions of a policy. Hence, the managers execute the specifics of a given policy. Horizontal centralization is the typical relationship between departments. In organizational theory, some departments are generally important than other departments. For example, the sales department is usually more important than the legal department of a firm precisely because the former holds the future of the firm. The sales department determines the financial status of a firm. Hence, relatively, the actions of the sales department may determine the actions of the other departments. Under centralization, open communication is only possible between managers of several departments and the general manager of the firm, and between the board of directors and the general manager. Open communication between ordinary employees and the management is done through division supervisors (although the information becomes blur as it passes from one level to another). Open information is only possible for high level managers and of course, the board of directors. Standardization is the process of agreeing upon a given set of guidelines for interoperability. Standardization is tantamount to enacting rules to maintain the operability of an organization. Hence, an organization creates standardized procedures in order to provide the employees an efficient and effective means of rendering work to the firm. For example, standardized guidelines for hiring employees allow a given company to select the best and efficient people to occupy vacant positions in the company. In addition, standardization generally prevents work discrimination in a company. This is so since the behavior of all workers in a company is limited by standardized work procedures. Role specialization in industrial sociology is defined as the diversification of job positions in the workplace. As one may note, jobs in most companies are highly diversified. Diversification ensures efficiency and effectiveness of a company. Diversifying job positions saves time and amount for a company. In addition, diversification provides the avenue for increased cooperation and interdependence among workers. For example, rather than employing two script writers, it is efficient for a film production group to employ one script writer and one film reviewer. This saves time for the firm. Autonomy is a condition in which employees are given some freehand over the nature and discourse of their jobs. This is typical of research firms where employees are given deadlines. The employees are free to do anything so long as the prescribed work is finished on or before the given deadline. By giving some autonomy to the employees, alienation is prevented. The employees are able to exercise their work values (professionalism) and skills without institutional limits. The distribution of power in a firm should be made more uniform to allow workers more voice. Resting power to one person or group of persons prevents workers from airing their grievances. Thus, in making the distribution of power more uniform, the firm creates institutions or channels that can absorb all the grievances and needs of the workers. Once the grievances are well documented, negotiation is the only plausible option. In the negotiation process, the management and the workers should have equal powers in terms of negotiation. The options that management will take should be compensated by the actions that the workers will enforce. Technology should be made more human-resource oriented; that is, technology should put under the discretion of both the management and the workers. If the management solely controls the direction of a firm’s technology, the workers loses value. If the control and direction of a firm’s technology solely belongs to the workers (e.g. in communist countries), the firm loses potential earnings. Therefore, there is a need to strike a middle position between the management and the workers. A middle position will enable the two parties to cooperate effectively with regard to the use of technology in the company. In addition, this will make work more participatory (employees and the management). In terms of skill, no substantial changes are necessary except that related skills should be realigned. This will allow more cooperation between employees, and consequently, making work more participatory (since every job in the firm is viewed essential to the continuity of a firm’s operations). Here are then the necessary changes that the management should undertake to make work more participatory: 1) Realigning related jobs – increased cooperation among related jobs increases employee participation and motivation of employees; 2)Putting some technologies of the company under the control of the employees – the employees will determine the production process (work in general), making their perception of the workplace more positive. This will generally increase participation among employees; 3)And, institutionalizing open channels of communication (grievances included) – the needs and grievances of the employees will be taken into account by management. If these needs and grievances are addressed, the management will expect an increased worker propensity to participate in company activities. Reference Hall, Richard and Pamela S. Tolbert. (2004). Organizations: Structures, Processes, and O

Conservative Party From 1951 To 1964 Essay

1) Labour failed to modernise its policies to a move affluent Britain and the party was constantly divided 2) The parliamentary party was split between the Left and Right: left-wing Bevan’s wanted an expansion of the public sector & hostile to Gaitskell, who did not 3) Gaitskell became leader after Wilson and agreed on a social democracy rather than a socialist one, but failed to remove Clause IV in 1961 Labour weakness enabled the Conservatives to avoid the electoral consequences of their mistakes, partially 1) Suez 1956 2) Resignation of Eden Conclusion The Labour party was dominating in votes up to 1950, however that year the difference between Labour and Conservative parties was very neglectful. There are several factors that might have contributed to Labours loss of power in 1951. The Labour government was associated with the period of austerity when people had to overcome rationing and devaluation. Additionally, many key members of the Cabinet were exhausted or unwell. Moreover, they were split internally and the event with Gaitskell that led to Bevan’s resignation in 1951, undermined the cohesion of the government. In comparison to them, the conservative party seemed to be more convincing at that period. The reign of Conservatives began in 1951 and lasted for 13 years, when Winston Churchill ran his campaign for election, and eventually, won. Here were several reasons that guaranteed his success: he agreed to maintain the post-war consensus that kept full employment under Keynesian policy and allowed to enlarge the system of social services. Moreover, Churchill’s second election victory was partially due to the gratitude of British public for being a good wartime leader. Another point is that, Conservatives reorganised the system of internal work and its campaign that was oriented toward gaining of additional votes. Also, they brought young and bright members into the government that made them stand out against old Labour government. The policy proposed by Churchill’s government was Keynesian and it guaranteed full employment due to the increased financing of projects by government and decreased taxation that led to increase of import. Additionally, growing industry, build of housing and development of welfare services guaranteed growing employment and high consumer demand; women found it easy to find a job that gave families at least 2 incomes. One of the important factors was that Conservatives finalised the austerity: rationing and licensing came to an end. However, there were some difficulties, too. Development of industry and services required more people, which resulted in immigration of low-cost workforce from colonies of GB. Consequently, up to 1962 the number of immigrants from India and African countries was about 200 000, that led to Commonwealth Immigration Act. Moreover, depressed areas continued to have the level of  unemployment above average that suggested costly measures to create intensives for workers, such as low interest loans, tax breaks and housing for key workers. But those measures could not guarantee safe functioning during difficult periods, for instance, firms closed as soon as recessi ons started. Winston Churchill was a prime-minister during 1951- 1955, even though he was very old and due to health issues was no longer dynamic. And this period is considered to be successful despite the fact that recovery of British economy was moving at a slow pace than one of Europe or USA. In 1955 the parliament was under direction of Anthony Eden, who worked close to Churchill and coordinated the work of government during his absence. He inherited good economic and political conditions, and it was hard to imagine that in 2 years he would resign in disgrace because of foreign affair matter, the very field area of government where his talent was praised for. His fiasco was caused by the Suez Canal seizure made by Gamal Abdel Nasser that was a strategically important point controlled by Britain since 1875. An attempt to intervene in Egypt with military force in secrete coalition with France and Israel was not supported by US government and would cause heavy pressure and withdrawal of its financial help from British economy. That event was humiliating failure of British foreign policy; and the secret collusion with France and Israel created a bad image for Eden. Harold Macmillan was a prime- minister from 1957 to 1964 and he followed the strategies of his fellow members. He implemented the Butler’s theory to operate a mixed economy and the policy of Keynesianism. The aims of these policies were to avoid extreme inflation and deflation by a series of government adjustments. If inflation rose too quickly, the government introduced measures to slow it down. These measures included, raising interest rates to prevent borrowing and increasing import controls to limit purchases from abroad, with the intent of reducing the trade gap. Alternatively, if demand was low, the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time would introduce ‘a giveaway’ budget whereby taxes and interest rates were lowered. The Conservatives maintained these economic policies from 1957 right up until 1964. The ‘give away’ budgets were criticised however, as they were said to be attempts to ‘buy votes’. Macmillan also introduced the policy of stop-go, which resulted in stagflation due to Britain’s lack of economic strategy. That indicated the failure of governments to develop  policies that encouraged a constantly performing economy. The policy of stop-go was about intervening of government when consumption rose too quickly. Despite any criticisms, Macmillan (also named as Supermac) created an image of full confidence in this policy and that reflected in increase of his popularity and general public approval. As the result, quality of life improved and people were able to buy luxuries. Macmillan had many qualities that gained him respect: he was decisive, portrayed his confidence through media and delivered on promises. He pulled out of the Suez affair as he knew Britain was not going the way Eden wanted to see. He promised to build 300,000 houses per year: in 1953 the number of new houses achieved 327,000 and in 1954 – 354,000. Finally, Macmillan got rid of the British Empire which saved enormous amounts of money. Though Britain was criticised for doing this, as they were said to be abandoning their empire, ultimately it was the right thing to do as too many extreme promises were made and Macmillan knew t hese could not be kept without risking the welfare of Britain themselves. Also, the empire wanted freedom and therefore it was impossible for Britain to ‘abandon’ them; they were just providing their colonies with the freedom they craved. In 1964 the last prime-minister to hold office while being the member of House of Lords. After becoming a lord he was criticized by Labour Party as an aristocrat, who cannot understand the needs and problems of ordinary families; and he had an image of rather stiffly person by contrast with the Labour leader, Harold Wilson. In conclusion, one might say that the period of 1951-64 was a great success for British economy when it came revived and more industrialized after the 2nd World War. It gave a start for new vision and policy that improved the face of the country with time.

The Theme Of Fame In Ex-Basketball Player By John Updike Essay

The Theme Of Fame In Ex-Basketball Player By John Updike - Essay Example Pearl Avenue in the poem symbolically represents the road to success, which is, according to the author, a hard one to follow. It has many â€Å"bends† and it â€Å"stops† and â€Å"cuts off† in many places, thus making it a difficult path to traverse. Nature does endow human beings with many talents. However, all the people who are gifted with such talents do not become famous and it transpires that achieving fame is not an easy task. Thus, by using the symbol of Pearl Avenue, to represent the road to fame, the author contends that humans cannot attain fame easily. This is the reason why, despite being a gifted player, Flick is not able to attain real fame. This is one of the main ideas that Updike wants to convey the theme of fame in this poem.In an interview, the author admits that most of his stories derive from his â€Å"interest in the phenomenon of an athlete outliving his time†. In the instant case, Flick does not remain totally committed to his ca ll. Though he is shown as a highly gifted player, whose â€Å"hands were like wild birds† and whom â€Å"the ball loved,† he fails to maintain the cutting edge of performance, and, therefore, his fame vanishes. Thus, the author implies that simply by being talented, an athlete cannot sustain the fame. On the other hand, he or she needs to remain dedicated to the game and continuously improve his or her performance. This is the second idea about fame that the author wants to communicate to his audience through this poem.

Quality & Safety Education for Nurses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quality & Safety Education for Nurses - Essay Example The second competency is that of teamwork and collaboration and its relevance is in the effective functioning within inter-professional teams and nursing, open communication fostering, shared decision making and mutual respect to achieve quality care for patients. The third competency is that of evidence based practice (EBP) which aims at integrating best current evidence with patient/family preferences and values and clinical expertise for delivery of best health care. The fourth competency involves quality improvement (QI) which mostly uses data in monitoring the outcomes of care processes and using improvement methods in designing and testing changes to help in continuous improvement of the quality and safety of the health care systems. The fifth competency is safety and involves minimization of risk of harm to providers and patients through both individual performance and system effectiveness. The sixth and last competency is informatics and deals with information and technology use in communicating, managing knowledge mitigating error and supporting decision making. Students should be able to explain why technology and information skills are important for patient care that is

The Media and its Impact on the Range of Understanding Identity in Essay

The Media and its Impact on the Range of Understanding Identity in Adolescents - Essay Example One should consider the gratuitous nature with which sex and sexual relations are discussed within the media. It is nearly impossible to turn on primetime television or read a magazine that does not seek to cheaply engage the reader with a type of frivolous and non-consequential understanding of human sexuality. A series of negative implications are glossed over to include the ever-increasing risk of STDs, pregnancy, emotional/psychological trauma, and the inability to form lasting and meaningful physical relationships due to a high premium being placed upon sex (Samson et al 283). Such common interpretations are no doubt one of the reasons that HPV is represented in one out of every 4 women between the ages of 14-30 within the United States. Likewise, it does not take a specialist to note that there is an ever-increasing incidence of violence in all forms of media. This cannot only be understood as a function of entertainment but also as a function of news programming which takes particular interest in some of the more gruesome elements of violence that exist within society. The representation of violence within the media in all its forms serves to relate an unrealistic view of the world model as it currently exists and no doubt has a profound effect on the way that adolescents view their surroundings. One study put forward that the average child will have viewed around 8,000 murders on television prior to finishing elementary school (Nelson 1). This fact in and of itself gives the reader pause when realizing the sheer size of the problem and demands a response to such an issue.