Monday, October 28, 2013

My two emphasis areas are psychology and business. I am confident that there is a psychology component, or at least an easier tie, to each of these scholarly peer reviewed articles. First, let me say how awesome the Summon search is. I am interested in how the private sector can contribute to upward mobility and doing more to elevate people out of poverty. I am also interested in what government and the private sector share in common and how they are different (this also has a political differentiation). In these articles I found good information on poverty. I found one in particular fascinating because it speaks of how we have lost the war on poverty. In another article it brings up the idea that many of our seniors are living in poverty; that got me thinking about the baby boomers (the largest cohort passing through time in history) and their possible fight against poverty as they live longer than previous generations. The final article shows how job creation creates upward mobility.

I think I am off to a good start but need to narrow the focus to something more specific and more measurable. I believe in our capitalistic free enterprise system and that the private sector is the best hope for helping people out of poverty. I hope to find proof of my beliefs in the research...

Cynthia Christensen, Elaine Gates, Poverty: An Iowan perspective, Journal of Vascular Nursing, Volume 26, Issue 2, June 2008, Pages 34-36, ISSN 1062-0303, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvn.2007.09.001.

In this scholarly, peer reviewed article healthcare in Iowa is examined. Iowa ranks number one in the number of citizens over 80 years old and in the top ten for citizens over the age of 65. What I find interesting is the number of citizens in Iowa that are below the nation median income and at the same time the number of citizens in their senior years. As the baby boom generation continues to retire and at the same time live substantially longer than past generations; what will these facts contribute to poverty in the future. Can older Americans keep up with the costs of living and keep themselves out of poverty, or are the increasing numbers of our senior citizenry in for a life of poverty?

Hanson, F. (1997, Fall97). How proverty lost its meaning. CATO Journal. p. 189.

“After decades of dashed hopes and expenditures that have produced no tangible benefits, the nation seems tacitly to have acknowledged that we fought a War on Poverty and poverty won (see Sawhill 1988: 1085). Many see a brave title--the "Personal Responsibility and Employment Opportunity Act of 1996"--as merely papering over a wearied and frustrated withdrawal from the War on Poverty.
It has been possible to withdraw from the War on Poverty partly because the poor exercise very little political clout. They are a minority, many of them do not vote, and they do not otherwise participate in political life. Thus, when Congress was revamping poverty policy, the halls were empty of lobbyists arguing the case for the poor (Clymer 1996).”
While reading this article I found the premise interesting. Who will fight for the poor? The article suggests that when legislation is brought forth there exist few lobbyists to fight for the poorest among us. The article also shows some political difference of opinion related to poverty and how it should be handled.

Fullwiler, S. T., & Meyeraan, S. (2010). Confronting Poverty with Jobs and Job Training: A Northeast Iowa Case Study. Journal Of Economic Issues (M.E. Sharpe Inc.), 44(4), 1073-1084. doi:10.2753/JEI0021-3624440411

“This paper discusses a local, privately-run and federally-funded program for all individuals able to demonstrate their income is at, or below the poverty line. This free Certified Nursing Assistant training program enables successful participants to obtain appropriate employment in local hospitals. The program is complementary to job guarantee proposals promoted by a number of economists, and provides an example of how local job creation programs can incorporate job training to improve prospects for upward mobility.” This article starts with aspects of the individual’s responsibility to lift themselves out of poverty by obtaining employment and activating upward mobility. Furthermore the article shows that earlier poverty programs did not succeed as they failed to provide either jobs or education.

3 comments:

  1. Scott, after reading over what you have find so far I think that you are off to a good start. It doesn't seem that your topic is that broad. I found it interesting to read about how poverty is affecting the seniors. I believe you have some great articles.

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  2. I'll second what you said about the Summon search engine--I love it!
    I also think that you've found some great articles to work with for your presentation. I've never given much thought to how little support the poor citizens have in politics. It's depressing to realize that there really is little support for these people. I also think that education is an essential part of elevating the disadvantaged out of poverty. I'm interested to see what you come up with!

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  3. I also agree with Summon being awesome! As far as your research, I too would be interested to see what research says in regards to education vs. will/determination. I know education betterment would assist poverty stricken families but what is the psychological component regarding obtaining that education?

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