Income Inequality Essay Example for Free

Income Inequality Essay Minimum Wage Income inequality in America has become a big issue, one that many of us hear every day; whether on the news or from our parents. But normally, we don’t hear the actual phrase used. We hear things like â€Å"the top two percent,† or, the â€Å"rich vs. the poor.† So, what is income inequality? Income inequality is defined as the difference between individuals or populations in the distribution of their assets, wealth, or income. So, with that in mind, why would anyone be against raising a minimum wage? At first glance, the plan does seem to be an intelligent fix to a problem that’s stayed dormant for quite a while. Raising the minimum wage drastically from where it was in 2009 to now would be a blunt and possibly inefficient way of continuing to attempt to give the poor a better way of life. There is one simple fact that many people simply don’t look at: there are more than one group of people working for minimum wage. There is a myriad of people working for the federal 7.50, from teenagers on their first jobs to older people with second jobs. Jonathon Guryan, an economist at Northwestern University and a neutral observer of the wage debate, said that â€Å"Its not helping as many or as large a portion of the labor market as you probably would like.† This being said, the workers that will benefit from a minimum wage increase would be so diverse that the group of people we are aiming to help, the poor and desperate, wouldn’t be getting all the help. Now, what of the small businesses and family companies that can hardly handle the current minimum wage? Well, they’d be taking a hit too if a drastic increase such as this were to hit. Businesses that make less money than others in their profits per year are expected to have to cut down on their expenses and lay off their workforce in order to compensate for the loss of funds. So, while the minimum wage would benefit the people in the business lucky enough to not be laid off, those who were fired could  be the very people we were attempting to help. Unfortunately, this could mean that a large part of the workforce that handles manual labor could be out of the job. Other businesses would not even be that lucky. There are much better ways to fight income inequality than just simply raising the federal minimum wage. It’s a very black and white argument for a topic that is not so black and white. To better improve our income equality, and therefore lift people out of poverty, we could be putting more funding into things like education, food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit (or the EITC), which is a refundable tax credit targeting people who make a low income. It would be a shame to not only miss a chance to reduce poverty now, but to forget that we’ll all be having this same conversation in a few years if we just raise the minimum wage. That being said, I don’t believe the federal minimum wage should be raised to $10.00 per hour.

Dysfunctional Medical Insurance Essay -- Argumentative

Dysfunctional Medical Insurance A mom is waiting frantically in the local emergency room while her little girl continues to cry with pain. An hour goes by without any news as to when she will finally be treated. At last, their number gets called and they go over to the registration desk. The lady behind the desk opens their file and shakes her head in disbelief as she turns to look at yet another mother with remorse. She continues to tell the mother that the hospital has refused to provide medical attention to her little girl due to insurance problems. This scenario is sadly very common in the lower class families with little or no insurance coverage, in fact â€Å"20% of the U.S. population lacks medical coverage† (Richman). While the initial idea of medical insurance seems more beneficial than not, the current health insurance situation has caused many negative repercussions for both the patients and the physicians. Some of these disadvantages include: denial of health care, compromised medical att ention, astronomical billings, privacy issues, discriminatory plans, and even possible risks of fraud. The original idea of medical insurance should have been a noble way to help Americans afford medical bills in a case of an emergency or just routine physicals and check-ups. A lot of Americans coming from different financial situations could not afford the emergency or even the customary treatments and would therefore go without medical attention. This obviously had dire consequences on the patients’ health, thus forcing the need of an alternative option. â€Å"Fortunately, a handful of physicians associated with Sacramento's Sutter General Hospital saw beyond the despair. Seeing a need for an alternative health care financing vehicle in the early 1930s, the doctors created the first open enrollment hospital insurance plan in the United States† (Sutter Health). As originally planned, this new medical insurance proposed benefits to both the doctors and the patients; patients could afford to be treated, while doctors could see more patients-even of the lower income clas s. Somehow—between then and now, the plan has been twisted and turned around so much that it has lost some of its greatest benefits and reputation. Because of the numerous loop holes in the current insurance plan, I believe that right now the drawbacks and disadvantages are overshadowin... ...been hit with a half of billion dollars in claims. As the extensity of this crime allows, there are many other issues to be dealt with besides just the insurance aspect. However, if insurance wasn’t implemented into our society or even if loop holes didn’t exist in this case, then this crime could not have been possible. Since insurance was introduced to our society, there have been many problems. Much like the little girl who was denied medical attention, many people suffer from these disadvantages of medical insurance. I believe that the medical insurance idea is argumentative, because there are a lot of repercussions that people may or may not have thought about. Besides the recent crimes being committed against them, the insurance companies are benefiting immensely, but are we? The prices of medical treatments are rising, the doctor’s attention to actual patients as opposed to who has insurance is diminishing, and less people are benefiting from health insurance. I do not think that medical insurance should have been proposed in the first place. I do admit that it should have been a benefit to Americans, but I have yet to see everyone benefit as initially planned.

A Study of Career Plateau in Education Sector Essay

If Employee’s jobs are filled with routine and boring tasks or if desired promotions are blocked in the organization, then they are likely to feel an intrinsic sense of loss and become skeptical about findings fulfillment in their careers Career plateau employees are likely to have demotivation and higher labour turnover because they want to advance their careers elsewhere in the environment Researcher find out the causes, difference of career plateau among the Admin Staffs, Support Staffs, Teaching Staffs, Technical Staffs in education sector, its effects and strategies to remove the career plateau. The Major finding of this study is that career plateau is a major contributing factor of employees dissatisfaction, organization commitment and employee turnover. Technical staffs have more career plateau. Management and other stakeholder to develop the best strategies to manage career plateau in the organization. Keywords: Career Plateau, Strategies, Employee turnover, Dissatisfa ction 1. Introduction Career plateau is not a new phenomenon, but there is a worrying situation about the rate at which it is becoming increasingly widespread in various organizations (Yama- moto, 2006; Lee, 2003). Many scholars on organizational careers’ have suggested that plateau is fast becoming a critical managerial and organizational issue which needs to be managed properly to avoid employee’s discontent (Burke and Mikkelsen, 2006; Tremblay and Roger, 2004; Tremblay et al., 1995). Career plateau is defined as the point where employees like hood of additional hierarchical promotion is very low. International Journal of Business and Management Tomorrow   Employees who have experienced career plateau would think that their employers have forsaken their careers (Lee, 2003). Career plateau has been used as antecedent to many undesirable work outcomes such as low satisfaction, high stress, poor performance and other withdrawal symptoms (Yamamoto, 2006; Lee, 2003; Choy and Savery, 1998). Career plateau has the potential to cause discomfort among the employees because lack of continued upward progression is considered as a yardstick to measure employee’s performance. Thus career plateau leads to poor performance. In any organizations upward movement in terms of promotion of employees is accompanied by increase in salary, power and status (Lee, 2003). Plateau employees are likely to have higher labour turnover because they want to advance their careers elsewhere in the environment. For many employees, the time comes when all career movement ceases. Some feel unchallenged, while others simply don’t have the motivation to move upward. It is management’s responsibility to pull the best from staff members at such times. Fortunately, this isn’t difficult when you are prepared with a game plan and a little understanding. * Definitions. Plateaued employees, one observer has written, are those who reach their promotional ceiling long before they retire. Structural plateauing occurs when opportunities for promotions end. The hierarchy in most institutions is designed like a pyramid, leaving room for only a select few at the top. Therefore, everyone eventually plateaus. The inabilit y to climb the career ladder is an emerging concern for employees in the 1990’s. With aging of the baby boom generation and shrinking of middle management positions brought about by recession, improvements in office technology, and mergers and acquisitions, there are fewer opportunities for advancements in office technology, and mergers and acquisitions, there are fewer opportunities for advancement (Weiner, Remer, & Remer, 1992). One significant vocational effect is plateauing, â€Å"a unique form of career stall† (milstein, 1990b p, 325) which can result in a feeling of malaise on the part of upwardly mobile individuals. This phenomenon is labeled plateauing because it resembles a long flat uninterrupted expanse with minimal contours and a sameness that stretches endlessly. If people’s jobs are filled with routine and boring tasks or if desired promotions are blocked, then they are likely to feel an intrinsic sense of loss and become skeptical about findings fulfillment in their careers. (Milstein, 1990a, P48) 2. Examine the causes of career plateau Examine the difference in plateauing among the various levels of staffs in education sector. Examine the effect of career plateau in the organization. Give suggestions to manage career plateau effectively to minimize employee intention to quit. 3. In the subsequent pages, an attempt is made to review the literature pertaining to career plateaus of the employees. The literature of these studies has been collected through various magazines, journal, website and other published sources. 3.1 Various types of career plateaus are being experienced by the employees in organization. According to Bardwick (1986), there are three types of career plateau which are very common in organizations and there are: Structural Plateaus:- represents occupational situations where advancement is unavailable due primarily to the pyramidal nature of organization hierarchies. Content Plateaus: – When no challenge remains in their job. Tasks have been mastered and little new or exciting remains to be learned. Life plateauing:-occurs when individuals believe they are trapped in their ongoing everyday routines, cycles, obligations, and relationships. They may lead them to have â€Å"the sense that there’s little fulfillment left in any area of life. As per Rita M. Choy, Lawson K. Savery, (1998). Organizations are under pressure to cope with factors such as resource scarcity, increased competition, slow economic growth, increased utilization of technology and an increase in acquisitions and/or mergers. All these can lead to downsizing of the workforce. Many organizations believe downsizing can reduce costs and increase competitiveness. However, flattening structures reduces the number of people needed in organizations and such practices escalate the plateauing ISSN. International Journal of Business and Management Tomorrow The present study explores the relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment and the plateauing phenomenon. Non-plateaued workers seem to have a better relationship with their organization and find coaching new staff more rewarding than plateauing workers. This finding is important because trainers must hold positive attitudes toward the company and this seems more likely when the person is not plateaued. Non-plateaued employees are also more likely to view the organization as encouraging job performance – another issue of importance to managers of organizations. Susir Kumar – CEO, Intelenet Global Services expresses, â€Å"In spite of all the buzz and hype progressive HRM creates, career plateau remains a regular phenomenon and a problem that HR managers across industries and organizations have to grapple with. It can be defined as reaching a level of complacency, in many cases leading to employee burnout. It is not that such employees are incompetent; however, there is a general feeling of ‘being stuck’. Such employees often harbour an illusion, that they have nothing more to achieve.† Sharing his opinion on the organizational ailment that is a stagnant employee, Aleem Merchant, director, Synapse Marketing Consultancy Pvt. Ltd says, â€Å"Employee plateauing is a disease that hampers almost every organization, big or small and today, this malady is threatening the very potential and future of the corporate world as fast as most lifestyle diseases. This too needs expert treatment and its own set of managerial medications.† In order to analyze this plague, we must dissect it to get to the root of the problem. â€Å"Plateaued employees could stem from boredom of routine work or just plain complacency. Very often, external stimulators such as excitement of new work or a hard reality session can help yank the employee out of his stupor,† reasons G Ravindran, CEO, and MD- SHRM India.   Potter, author of â€Å"Overcoming Job Burnout: How to Renewing Enthusiasm for Work†, contends that often plateauing exists in the minds of employees. â€Å"In many cases it may be an illusion.† she said. According to Potter, employees also can imagine themselves plateaued with they fail to adapt to the changing employment picture. â€Å"Sometimes the person is not blocked; they just don’t understand the rules of the game have changed.† she said. Some workers are frustrated trying to climb the corporate ladder, Potter said, unaware that the old traditional hierarchical construction no longer exists. Another cause of the illusory plateau, Potter said, is a worker who is â€Å"actually chronically depressed.† She explains that for a depressed individual, a new job acts as a â€Å"sort of self-medication,† giving the person a temporary high. However, Potter said, once that boost wears off, the employee goes back to feeling depressed and might be inclined to blame this condition on a lack of job satisfaction. â€Å"It’s another kind of unrealistic expectation.† When employees feel plateaued, Potter said, â€Å"They can start getting into this problem of burnout†Ã¢â‚¬â€a loss of motivation that can leave workers feeling helpless. She warned that burnout can lead to chronic absenteeism, anger, thievery, and substance abuse. Potter warned that any attempts at curbing burnout can be too little too late, because losing one’s motivation is akin to losing one’s spirit. â€Å"When that gets damages, it just doesn’t bounce back, † she said. Study Design and Methodology 100 samples selected from various education society of Pune by using the convenient sampling method. The following categories/Levels of employees are selected as respondents.   Teacher   Admin staffs (4.3) Professional /Technical staffs (4.4) Support staffs. 25 respondents from each category are selected from for the research. The Instrument, containing 50 items and 29 attributes, each query is ranked by the respondents according to a five point Likert scale.

We Are A Camera, By Nick Paumgarten - 1061 Words

Although a memory may deteriorate over the span of years or even decades, a photograph will last a lifetime. Images are more than an object to have for safe keeping. In his article, â€Å"We Are A Camera,† Nick Paumgarten discusses the uprising of the popular recording device known as the GoPro. This device is used to record events and experiences from different perspectives, whether that is from underwater or zip lining through a forest in a first-person view. Moreover, videos and photography allow people to capture images to reminisce about past experiences, to share these moments with others, and even remember those whom you have lost. There are countless debates about how distracting cell phones and other electronic devices can be however, they can still be used in positive ways, such as capturing images. Images are a way of recalling events or memories. Certainly, with these images a person would depict a picture far more vividly than what they could have conjured up by simply trying to remember the moment. After going through a great experience, people tend to want to reflect and rejoice at what they had done or gone through. The most memorable moment of my past would have to be my seventh birthday party. It was a small surprise in the middle of a park in Fort Lauderdale on a scorching hot day. I recall playing soccer on the grassy plains, receiving gifts and the abundance of laughter in the air. The only problem is, I only remember vague images in my mind that I piecedShow MoreRelatedThe Limits Of Friendship By Maria Konnikova And We Are A Camera By Nick Paumgarten1259 Words   |  6 PagesThe world we live i n is a very competitive one. To be successful, in this world one needs to have the connections so that one can succeed in life. In â€Å"The Limits of Friendship† by Maria Konnikova and â€Å"We are a Camera† by Nick Paumgarten, we see that technology can help build these connections. It is through these connections that One way these connections help make people successful is through our close interpersonal connections, modern day technology, and social media. These three outlets are modemsRead MoreThe Go Pro Is Like Brownie And The Polaroid963 Words   |  4 Pagesit to a television set, a computer, or a camera. It can replay, slow down, show me things, and even retain information whenever it wants to. It s available to me if I need to input information like an computer I can. I can reminisce or daydream at any given time day or night just as if I was a camera, taking pictures. Our brain can capture and freeze and hold that thought or memory forever. Just like a computer or a camera. For instance, Nick Paumgarten a New York City writer relates The Go ProRead MoreAttention Deficit : The Brain Syndrome Of Our Era Essay1953 Words   |  8 PagesWhen we walked into the 21century, technology has not only become an important part of our daily life, it has been advanced at a rate we could never imagined. Technology broadens our horizon and shows us so many aspects of the world. However, the more advanced technology becomes, the more we lose our ability to care for others, which is a significant part of our humanity. We use machines a lot more in our daily life instead of ourselves. Due to this, the open world makes it more difficult to concentrateRead MoreDrones in America and How They Infringe on the 4th Amendment and Due Process of the Law2930 Words   |  12 Pageswill have an overwhelming interest to be more receptive of drones used domestically. Introduction Since 9/11 Homeland security has infringed on the rights of Americans. First, it was TSA at the airport doing full body searches, and then it was a camera monitoring traffic at every street light. Now, it is unmanned aerial vehicles otherwise known as drones. Although, the president’s use of drones to their maximum capability is only used to execute the war on terror and those he assumes are associated