The U.S. unemployment rate drops from 9 percent
to 8.6 percent in November. The President said 140,000 people were hired in the
private sector last month. The reason of the dramatic drop can be found in that
315,000 people stopped looking for a job, not that new jobs were created, said
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial at Chicago. Statistics is a
funny thing. As shown in the unemployment rate, numbers can be easily
manipulated. Even though the number says the rate went down, the reason might
not be because more jobs were created. The unemployment rate in South Korea is
about 4 percent last quarter, which indicates near full employment. Despite the
number, many young people have difficulties finding a job. They argue that the
number they feel is more than 20 percent. Like the U.S., many people give up
looking for a job and the government and the ruling party take advantage of the statistics to promote their propaganda.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Week7 Reading Journal - 1
Tokyo Electric Co. running the Japanese
nuclear plants in Fukushima said that they found another leak of radioactive
water over the weekend. It was estimated that 45 tons of water had been
contaminated outside the cooling system and about 300 liters of it had leaked
into the sea. Although the amount of radioactive water leaked into the sea is
not so much, the leak needs to be considered seriously because the water
contains about one million times as much radioactive strontium as the maximum
safe level. Even worse, it may cause tissue damage and increase the risk of developing
cancer if a human absorbs it. I believe that the Japanese government and the
company are doing their best to prevent leakage, but I am expecting more. The
radioactive water leak is not only Japanese’s problem. The water may have a fatal impact on some nearby
countries’ ecosystem.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Week6 Reading Journal - 2
LAPD starts using crime statistics to
predict and to prevent crimes before they happen. They expect a computer
program would help the force to be the scene where criminals will strike.
According to Capt. Sean Malinowski, the program points out areas where a crime
will occur and informs officers in the areas to pay a lot more attention. He
said there was a 50 percent decrease in crime rate compared to last year.
Despite the success, some people worry how the data will be used and there would be some possibilities that innocent people who happen to be in the areas are suspected. I also worry that the program might use racial profiling methods to
predict possible crimes. As stated in the article, at what cost are we willing to pay for
reducing crime to a certain degree?
Vocab.
Muster - Noun
a formal gathering of troops, especially for inspection, display, or exercise.
gathering, assembly
ex) A daily muster is for checking each officer's firearms.
Week6 Reading Journal - 1
While she was listening to the governor's speech at a Youth in Government program last week, an 18-year-old schoolgirl, Emma Sullivan,
tweeted that Kansas governor, Sam Brownback, sucked. Governor's media staff
found the tweet and notified it to the school authorities. She was ordered to
send a letter of apology to the governor, but she refused to follow because she
thought such an apology would not have been sincere. The governor said she did
not need to apologize for her tweet and added, “Freedom of speech is among our
most treasured freedoms.” Definitely, freedom of speech must not be infringed.
However the thing which drew my attention in this case was not the constitutional right, but
the fact that governor's staff monitored twitter, Facebook, and other social
network sites. Even worse, the staff alerted the school officials and had them
done something to the girl. The person who should apologize is not Emma Sullivan, but the
governor's staff. Not to mention the right, we have our own private lives online as well as offline.
Vocab.
Decorum - Noun
behavior that people consider to be correct, polite, and respectable.
propriety
Decorum is an idle word in some cases like having a quarrel with irrational people.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Week5 Reading Journal - 2
The former CEO of AIG, Hank Greenberg sued
the government, arguing that the takeover in 2008 was unconstitutional. He,
particularly, pointed out that the takeover violated the Fifth Amendment, which
prohibits taking private property for public use, without just compensation.
When I heard of this news, I could not believe what I just heard. This is the most
frivolous lawsuit ever. The government poured 182.3 billion – not million- to
save the company as well as the global financial system because it believed AIG
was too big to collapse. He must express some kind of gratitude to taxpayers instead of suing the government and taking more money from taxpayers. Thanks to the taxpayers’ money, the company
could survive and stockholders, executives, and employees of the company could enjoy hundreds
of millions of bonuses. The government should have let the company fail. The financial aid brought
only moral hazard.
Vocab.
Prop - Verb
If you prop an object on or against something, you support it by putting something underneath it or by resting it somewhere.
uphold, bolster
ex) Bailout does not always prop up the economy.
Week5 Reading Journal - 1
Despite Michelle Obama’s hard work to
prevent children from taking too much food causing childhood obesity, the
Congress passed a revised agricultural appropriations bill that allowed the
tomato sauce on pizza to be served in school lunch programs nationwide.
According this bill, it may be possible to count pizza as a vegetable. When a
certain amount of tomato paste is used in making a pizza, the pizza can be
served as a vegetable in schools. By the way, tomatoes are a fruit. Often, politicians pass some ridiculous bills
and make us laugh, but this bill is beyond ridicule. Politicians are supposed
to serve people and pursue the public interests, not the groups of people or
organizations that contributed to their campaigns. I do not think those
politicians want to teach their own children “pizza as a vegetable.” Is it too
much to ask them to have common sense?
Vocab.
Douse - Verb
pouring a lot of water over something
quench, blow out
ex) several firemen were dousing the fire on the Pacific beach park while I was driving by.
Concoct - Verb
inventing one that is not true
cook up, make up
ex) You will be surprised when you figure out how much offal is concocted to make chicken nuggets.
Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/18/pizza-vegetable-congress-says-so
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Week4 Reading Journal - 2
New data revealed that the amount of student loan hit a record high in 2010 and each student has $25,250 debt averagely. Although people might expect students who enroll in expensive schools to have more debt, but that is not always the case. Graduates from some public schools like Alabama A&M have an average debt of $31,000 because of the decrease of state support. Experts predict that these numbers will not decrease any time soon. I believe everyone is entitled to get equal education and the responsibility for this crisis rests squarely on the government. If we do not fix this problem, economic inequality between social classes will be intensified and demonstrations like Occupy Wall Street will be unceasing.
Vocab.
Pell Grant - Noun
Money that the federal government provides for students who need it to pay college
ex) You can't apply for a Pell Grant as long as you drive a Ferrari.
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