The first topic I choose to discuss was
titled welfare, weight loss, and the invisible working class. This section of
the reading talked about how money was spent prior to the War on Poverty. An
example the text gave was that there was more concern and money put into
account for immigrant birds than there was for immigrant humans. Also stated
within this section it discussed that the new homes that were being built were
being built on a much higher income status, when then leads to not enough
affordable homes for people. 40 years prior this underinvestment of affordable
home resulted in one and twenty Americans and one in six children were living
in homes that were claimed to be what the government called “worst case”. Along with this the ones who could “afford” and
home their income was half the local income median income and what they made,
more than half was going to housing. In reality you are only supposed to pay
thirty percent of your income on housing. This section of the book gave things
that people spent money on. I could not believe how much money was spent on
certain things. For example they said that pets, maintaining their law/gardens,
and weight loss products were the main things. Liposuction was one of the
weight loss products. Cryogenically frozen was another thing people spent large
amounts of money on too. This is when you are dead they just keep your body
frozen. To do this it is approximately 30,000 per person. Raquel story was
included within this section as well. It
showed an mom with two sons barley making ends meet. One aspect I did not like
about his part was that the money that she did make was going towards paying
her brother rent. To me I feel this is wrong especially if he witnessed how bad
she was truly struggling to just feed her two sons who were both going through
puberty. In this case I would have asked her to contribute to an electric bill
and groceries, but not rent, because she was already struggling enough. I feel
that this was in the text to bring awareness that people do not just do not want
to work and to show how these programs to help people get along have all of
these rules and regulations, and instead of being able to find a job to keep
some of these assistance you had to do community service hours. This woman was
given $300 dollars to last a month for food, which at times only got her three
months. One thing I would have recommended was a class to see how to buy and
make meals for cheap. I feel some people do not realize what can be done with a
small amount of money.
Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and some big bills
Another section of the reading that I am
going to discuss is Hurricanes, Tornadoes and some awfully big bills. This
section mainly focused on Hurricane Katrina. This section I feel brought awareness
to what this state and town primary focus was on after this devastating
disaster. The section discussed how the part of town referred to as the lower
ninth was just left to rot after this disaster. It discussed that the sections
of the town that were better off were the ones that got up and moving quickly
after this occurred. The part where all the tourists come another part of the
town that was quickly built back up. Today people who are living within the
lower ninth of the town are homeless people. This part of the town is still run
down, but it is slowly getting the community back. This section was provided to
show how natural disaster can destroy ones who had already lived in poverty and
that there are not enough resources available to handle a problem like
Hurricane Katrina. I was a little ticked off reading this section. I felt that
with what little warning they did have they would have had a better thought out
plan. The book stated that they were not
prepared at all for this disaster. Maybe
it is just me, and I am a planner, but I feel if you live near a body of water
there should always be a plan to implement and to revise yearly not mater the
situation.
Burial Plots, Broken Glasses, and Other problems with medicaid
The third section of the reading I picked
out was burial plots broken glasses and other problems with Medicaid. This section of the reading brought awareness
to what Medicaid is and what things you qualify and do not qualify. The story told by the family who lost their
care and had no other valuable items still could not get this. This really
opens my eyes for the future to show that make sure to have a job that offers
retirement, and one with good benefits and decent pay to be able to save up for
these types of crisis. I can do nothing but feel bad for these people facing
these different situations. This is another reason why I am in the field I am.
I would like to make a difference even if it is getting an individual a coupon
to help assist with the cost of their medication. In reality it does not cost
the doctors and surgeons tons of money to perform a surgery and the materials
used to preform, so my question is where are all of these charges coming from
and how much does one needle actually cost a hospital? I understand that doctors and surgeons need
to make money for their living, but people also need to be able to have these procedures
done to help them live.
Reference:
Ambrasky, S. (2013). The American Way of Poverty: How the other half still lives. New Work, NY:
Nation Books
Reference:
Ambrasky, S. (2013). The American Way of Poverty: How the other half still lives. New Work, NY:
Nation Books
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