Poverty Panama V.S. The United States Essays - Economy, Economics

Poverty: Panama V.S. The United States Recent years have seen a significant reduction of poverty in many countries of the world due to the recovery of economic growth after the ?lost decade? of the 1980s. Yet, poverty keeps on being a social problem that affects thousands of individuals of different countries like Panama and the United States. Everyday, more and more children and women are livng on the streets. In both Panama and the United States, most of the poor are the children under 18 years old, as well as the women, most of whom have children, yet have never been married, or have been through a divorce which has left them without anything, and the elderly. The difference thought is that in the United States are also included both latinos and afro-americans. Both racial groups have had immigrated to the country looking for better opportunities. Years ago, afro-americans constituted a great percentage of poverty in the United States, yet, now a days, Latinos are being more and more exposed to low salaries, poor neigh borhoods, large families and discrimination from some. All these are rapidly contributing to the rise in percentage of poverty among Latinos. Since a huge part of the United States population comes from immigration, the poor in the United States are probably younger than in Panama. This being because most immigrants are young individuals who come looking for opportunities. They usually come alone to find work and end up forming their own families as well. Then, they send for their families. In Panama on the other hand, as well as in most of latin america, immigration is not a very big social problem. Most of the poor people living in Panama are those in the rural parts where jobs are not available, unless you are a farmer, and where living conditions are terrible. There are places in which there is no electricty or telephone and drinking water is not available. This brings diseases yet, there are not hospitals available in those places and if there are, they have not got the equipment to give the proper assistance. This is basically what contributes to the poorness in Panama. Unemployment is also a problem in both Panama and in the United States. In 1998, poverty was reduced to 38% and unemployment to 13.2% from the economically active population in Panama of 1.1 million people. On the other hand, in 1997 the United States reduced its poverty level to 4.7% from which adult women was 4% and men 4.1%. Another problem that increases poverty in both countries is the lack of equity in the distribution of wealth. In Panama more than 25% live with less than a dollar Social Issues

The Internets Involvement In Society Essays - Free Essays

The Internet's Involvement In Society Essays - Free Essays The Internet's Involvement In Society The Internet is a new revolution to all of mankind. People are using computers for tasks unimaginable ten years ago. This paper will share with you ideas on computer use and the Internet in the twenty-first century. The Internet, introduced to consumers in 1996, has grown immensely over the past four years. Other technologies took up to thirty-eight years to reach fifty million people. The Internet only took four years to reach well over fifty million users. The Internet's extreme rate of growth will continue while we have no idea where it will take us. The Internet is becoming the most important tool to humans today. There are many different uses for every kind of person. For instance, online banking saves time and money over traditional banking. Small businesses have been rewriting the rules to commerce with the use of the Internet. Kendra Bonnett states: Just three years ago a study for Internet commerce estimated that thirty-seven million people in North America (age sixteen and older) had access to the Internet. Among this group, twenty-four million reported that they have used the Internet during the last three months, and only seven percent have purchased products or services over the Internet. (An IBM guide to doing e-business, 2000, p. 9) The number of people involved with the Internet is what makes it such a success. The Internet will continue to grow while people find more uses for it every day. It is able to find information on any topic imagined at your greatest convenience. As the Internet keeps growing, problems continue growing as well. With the help of the Internet, people are distributing copyrighted data for a profit. This is data that should be sold in the retail market. Examples would be musical files, games, and applications. Stefan Ventroni (2000), an attorney for Hit Box Music, believes that the rights of creative artists are being trampled on because of the Internet (p.1). Each album on compact disc can costs up to fifteen dollars purchased legally. These albums were downloaded for free more than 1,000 times via the Internet. All laws enforced in the real world still apply to the virtual world. We have to use responsibility when applying this new amazing tool to our lives. This will soon be realized as the two worlds slowly merge into one. In conclusion, the new technologies involving computers are opening doors unexplored and nobody knows where it will take us as a society. Author Nicholas Stein (2000) states, The Internet will effect our society in such dramatic ways that humans can not prepare or predict (p.182). Bibliography International Business Machines Corporation. (1998). An IBM guide for doing e-business. United States: Kendra R. Bonnett. Nicholas Stien, Fortune (2000, February). The Renaissance man of e-commerce. E-company, p. 181-188. Stefan Ventroni. (2000). Technology News. The urges for wider Internet access, 1. Retrieved March 24, 2000 from the World Wide Web: nandotimes.com/tech-nology/story/0,1643,500197426-500270666-501421377-0,00.html

Alien

The airport seemed like a morgue in the Dark Ages through my toddler eyes. Everyone looked ill with excess travel, sick from impatience. Menacing towers, which looked to be in fact, men, glared at me as if I were someone to suspect. As if I didn’t belong. The expansive line of Immigrations painfully edged forward, but my mind scampered away to curiosity. What was India like? Was I going to enjoy it? What was I going to do there? We finally reached the stern officer in sky blue, equipped with a stately handlebar moustache. He and my dad exchanged sympathetic glances and polite greetings, as if they were old friends, seeing each other for the first time in years. He did the same for my mother and sister, but stopped at me. â€Å"Born in the USA? What is this boy doing in an airport in India?† Everyone laughed, but I didn’t. Regardless of what he meant, it hurt my toddler mind deeply. For the first time in my life, I felt different. I felt guilty of my presence, guilty to be who I was. As I walked into the streets of India, the kids stared at me for quite some time, and chattered accusingly amongst themselves. I did not dress like them. I did not act like them. I did not talk like them. I felt like the aliens I had read about so avidly from the comics back home. I tried fervently to make myself the epitome of a native Indian boy, but my relatives constantly hindered my progress. Cricket is like baseball. Flats are apartments. Auto-rickshaws are like taxies. I constantly reminded myself these things, but no matter how hard I tried, these concepts would not stick. Language became a ruthless and unforgiving adversary. My parents had prepped me well prior to the trip, yet still I was hit with unfamiliar phrases. While my accent was consistent, constructing the words proved to be a grueling task. I realized any slight mistake could question the quality of my parents’ teaching, and slowly I stopped talking. I was limited to a stubborn shake of the head for no, and an eager nod for yes. I was always the quiet one, the one who said very little, but they didn’t know why. I wouldn’t let them know, for my alien nature would be exposed. Years come and go with new perspectives. The toddler state of mind was black and white, frank and simplistic. I was so driven by stubborn anger and frustration that I never really tried or wanted to search for the answers I needed. Questions of doubt and difference gradually became answered by my friends, schoolmates, and teachers. We all realized our experiences were not so seclusive, and countless stories met laughs of recognition and understanding. Time allowed for me to accumulate the points that define who I am, whether it is by a distressing day at Immigrations, or the inability to master a language. By birth and by residency, I am an American. But, by the principals I abide to and the traditions I willfully obey, I am an Indian. I don’t feel different anymore. Rather, I feel honored to have the opportunity to share and experience two cultures simultaneously. The polarity of the two nations sometimes proves to be troublesome, but also adds a contrast that intrigues me t o the point of enlightenment. It now seems amusing to imagine a confused little boy, paranoid of his imminent transformation into an unknown being. Paranoid of becoming an unfamiliar creature in unfamiliar territory; not able to identify with his environment. I was once an alien.

Justice System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Justice System - Essay Example In other words treating victims with the dignity they deserve while letting them continue to enjoy their fundamental human rights. The same applies to victims who are very vulnerable to vindication and are constantly in the risk of being treated harshly and with rejection due to the damages their crimes inflict on victims and to the society at large. There is a need for a balance between offenders' rights and victims' rights. The justice system has in some cases been accused of leaning too much on the side of the victims therefore denying the victim the right to be treated as not guilty until proven guilty before a fair and public trial in a court of law. Any justice system must be structured to meet the needs of both offenders and victims (Fowles, T 2006 P. 72). A right is a duty or responsibility entitled to an individual (Roberts, 2006 P. 115). Rights of victims enable them to get necessary support from the justice system. Usually the justice system is comprised of agencies such as the police, courts, probation officers, lawyers, prosecutors, and the government ministry concerned. Rights can be defined as responsibilities or duties of an offender or a victim (Fowles, 2006. P.57). It can be argued that victim's and offender's rights are related but in an inverse manner. According to (Samuel Walker 1980. P. 36,) the following are some of the theories put forward in relation to criminal justice and victim's/offender's rights. Restorative justice theory. Proponents of restorative theory argue that a victim can be restored to his/her former condition. It therefore suggests that the fact that victims have undergone crime experience does not mean that they will forever remain haunted by their experiences. This theory advocates for a justice system whereby victims can undergo restoration and therefore help them cope with the effects of the crime. It advocates for punishment of offenders though it opposes imprisonment. Restitution and community services are the commonest types of penalties advocated for by restorative theorists. It is aimed at re-socialising offenders. In view of striking a balance between offender's rights and victim's rights, restorative justice can be of much help for it seeks to up hold both the victim's and offender's rights while benefiting the society but there are those opposed to it terming it as too lenient. Retributive justice theory. Popularly known as the 'eye for an eye' method, it assumes that a victim has a right to 'hit back'. This justice system calls for punishments such as capital punishment, and in some parts of the world, amputation. In view of human rights advocates, a retributive justice system is considered unfair to the offender in that it does not accord a second chance for reforming. It can also cause emotional trauma to victims or their heirs and family especially in cases where they feel guilty and feel they caused the death of the offender. Transformative justice theory. A justice system founded on this theory will try to discourage animosity between the victim or the heirs and the

Analyse the concepts of 'culture shock' and 'cultural adjustment' and Essay

Analyse the concepts of 'culture shock' and 'cultural adjustment' and critically assess some possible consequences of th - Essay Example It involves the difficulties in trying to assimilate into the new culture or the new environment which leads to difficulty in understanding what is proper and what is considered as not being correct. Mostly it is combined with a lot of disgust about some aspects of the different or new culture. In most cases, culture shock may not occur suddenly. It may take some time to begin affecting the moods of the person involved. The duration of time an individual may experience culture shock is based on the period they have to stay in that environment, their self awareness level and the period they take to adjust and blend into the new surrounding. If the person is able to adjust at a faster rate, the better for him or her since the shock may not be as severe as when they did not know anything about the new culture or environment. One may note that he or she is experiencing culture shock when they experience some symptoms such as self doubts and being hostile more than usual (Taylor, 1990). A n example of culture shock is in the case of a university student from a different culture attending school in a totally different environment, for example, an African student attending university in the United States. Such a student will meet a totally different type of culture from the one he or she is used to. He may get hard timed trying to adjust and blend in. These hardships are part of culture shock. Culture adjustment is trying to change according to the shock associated with the change of environment. Living in a different culture that is dissimilar from the one someone is used to may be an adventure that is exiting as well as a challenging one. No matter what country one comes from, once they move from their country to another, they will have to go through cultural adjustment due to the difference in cultures (Vivian, 1999). Understanding the process of adjustment may involve getting some support from other people who are familiar with the culture and may be an exiting exp erience, both professionally and personally. Culture may be defined in a number of ways that may bring out different meanings. In some cases, it may be used to refer to the act of appreciating good literature, food, art and music. For biologists, it may be used to refer to a colony of different types of bacteria or some other organisms. However, for the behavioral science, it is a range of patterns of human behavior. It may be otherwise defined as a complex whole that includes belief, knowledge, art, customs, law and any habits and capabilities that is acquired by people as a part of a given society. Culture is a very powerful tool for the survival of human, but it is also a fragile phenomenon. Culture is consistently changing and may be lost easily since it usually exists in the human mind (Rogers, 1996). Culture is comprised of different layers. The national level deals with the awareness of the dynamics of culture and their patterns by nationality. The national level is relevant for certain areas such as getting into new markets, cross border division and relationships based on international outsourcing. Another level is the organizational level which focuses on culture dynamics experiences in different organizations (Rogers, 1996). The other levels include the regional or ethnic level that involves the difference in culture between different ethnical groups, generation level that is

Ethics on the Internet Essay examples -- Ethics Internet Computers Ess

Ethics on the Internet In today's society, there are many ethical issues on the Internet. Some of the biggest issues and concerns seem to be hacking and viruses, copyright infringements, spam, privacy, and cyberporn. Internet ethical issues affect a wide variety of individuals and almost all people today are affected in some kind of a way. Until recently, most computer users had not been very concerned with questions of ethics and may not have been aware of something being seen as an ethical issue, but this depends on every individual's position. However, today there are many concerns about these issues and some organizations are trying to get laws approved protecting individuals in today's society. Copyright infringements now are an extremely large issue. Illegal distribution of software over the Internet damages the software market, causes prices to go up, slows new software development, and hurts job creation in software development. It is currently reported that 40% of the world's software is pirated. Computer software is one of the most valuable technologies in our society. Since software is so valuable and because computers make it easy to create an exact copy of a program in seconds, software piracy is widespread. From individual computer users to professionals who deal wholesale in stolen software, piracy exists in homes, schools and businesses. Software pirates not only steal from the companies that make the software, but it causes the company to have less money towards their research and development of new software and it ends up hurting all users. The software piracy industry is growing due to the number of PCs and Internet users growing. The Business Software Alliance believes that new techn... ...ography Ethics and Electronic Information in the Twenty-First Century, by Lester J. Pourciau (Editor), G. T. Mendina Business Software Alliance, http://www.bsa.org/usa/">http://www.bsa.org/usa/ Internet Ethics by Duncan Langford, catalogue/catalogue.asp?Title_Id=0333776267 Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 16, No. 6, 1999, pages 590-602, Targeting Children Online: Internet advertising ethics issues AMA American Management Association, http://www.amanet.org/index.htm">http://www.amanet.org/index.htm Web101, Making the Net Work for You, Second Edition, by Wendy G. Lehnert, Copyright 2003 Ethics and the Conduct of Business, Fourth Edition, by John R. Boatright, Copyright 2003 Ethics on the Internet by Michael A. Covington, Copyright 1997, Gernsback Publications, http://www.ai.uga.edu</em>~mc/ethics.html">http://www.ai.uga.edu/~mc/ethics.html </ol>

Defining the Humanities Essay

After reading this week’s lecture and my understanding of what humanities are is the study of what people have experienced and how they express this experience. Humanities are how people have interacted throughout their existence and how people interact today. Humanities are the study of the philosophical beliefs of a culture. The philosophical approach to understanding a culture is what separates humanities from science and history. Science and history are exact and rarely are open for debate once it is proven to be fact. Science will set out  to prove its point, whatever it may be, through precise calculations. Science also studies theory and probability. Science lacks imagination in their calculations whereas humanities use imagination to understand past culture. Science wants to prove how people came to exist whereas humanities seek to understand why people exist. History is different from humanities because history studies documentation as facts and undisputable regarding what happened. Humanities seek to answer why it happened and to understand it. History was recorded in books in  libraries, Humanities are written on walls in caves or in the design contained in buildings. Today cultures express their interests, their experiences, and their values through many forms such as art, music, and movies. Sharing experiences is perhaps the most basic form of explaining who people are. By sharing these experiences in the forms of art, music, and movies, it allows us to share information about us through our creativity. In today’s culture these three forms of expression allow people to show their individuality and to connect with many on different levels. Art takes many forms and is interpreted by an individual differently. Colors and design reflect our feelings. Black and white expresses loneliness and pain whereas bright colors express happiness. A painting for example, allows an artist to express themselves in a way he or she feels. It is their visualization of their thoughts (Kitchin, 2004). Society looks at the painting and is free to interpret it their way. One person may see happiness whereas another sees sadness. A picture of time square could mean chaos and seem overwhelming to one from a rural area where someone from a city sees everything he or she needs. People continue to express themselves with music. The meanings behind the words of the songs often come from the feelings and the experiences of the author. It is the responsibility of the musician to express those feelings and experiences through sound. Music with soul (Hakes, 2011). Music has been very important to our culture. Think of how important the Beatles were to world or even the Grateful Dead. My personal favorite band is Linkin Park. They are my favorite because I can relate my life to the words of their song. Their music attracts those DEFINING THE HUMANITITES 3 who appear to be weak or who do not appear to be societies strongest. Their song â€Å"The Little Things Give You Away† was written about Hurricane Katrina. The devastation from Hurricane Katrina was widespread devastation. Their song attempts to reflect through music the pain and suffering affected by it. Movies are much like music however instead of only simply able to hear words and visualize it; the movies create the visualization for the person. Movies use categorization such as romance, action, and drama. Movies based on real life events attempt to capture those events and explain them. Movies can show the romance side of a situation or even the heroics. The recent movie Argo is about the falling of the United States Embassy in Iran, which was overrun. This movie reflects the horror that six members went through while showing the heroics of a CIA member to return the members of the Embassy to the United States. These three forms of expression will continue to exist as time continues. They are acceptable means of  expressions and are a very important part of today’s society. All three bring joy to people and if capable a person can express him or herself like none before. DEFINING THE HUMANITITES 4 References Kitchin, M. (2004). Art and expression. Retrieved from http://www. students. sbc. edu/kitchin04/artandexpression/artandexpression. html Hakes, T. (2011, March 11). Music as expression vs. music as entertainment. Retrieved from http://abovegroundmagazine. com/blogs/letter-from-the-editor/03/15/music-as-expression-vs- music-as-entertainment/