Immigration

While immigration is a huge problem here in the U.S., I do think that people overlook that a good percentage of immigrants actually benefit the country. My family is from the Philippines and my mom and most of my aunts specialized in the medical field solely to come over to the states. Like the title of Michael Clemens' article, I do believe that immigrants are an engine of prosperity, especially when they specialize in high demand areas like the medical field. Even if they aren't coming here for high demand jobs it does shut off that opportunity for them to use whatever skills they have here and lowers job creation.

I'm not really up to date on the issue of immigration and I think the latest I heard about it was the law passed in some state where if you looked like an immigrant they could stop you or pull you over to check you? Was this just a myth or was it really put into effect? Also what exactly is Obama's policy intending to do? Instead of  using money to protect the border between Mexico and the U.S, does he want to use that money and help Mexico's economy so that there are better jobs over there so they have a less pull factor to coming to the States?


Who do you think is poor in the United States and globally?I think that minorities generally tend to be more poor than the average american. Factors such as language, education, and skill come in to play big time. I think that over the years education has began to improve in a lot of countries, however it's still going to take a lot to reach the standards that America requires.
What do I think should be done? I definitely think that education should be a priority and countries should start having a curriculum that will not only help them in that country but everywhere.
**For some reason, I'm not able to get access to the film so I'll come back and update.**

Housing & Community Development

I really liked the objective of the MVI. I think that the government helps people in poverty in the wrong way. They provide them with funds for a period of time as long as they meet the requirements and after that time is up they're no longer able to recieve government assistance. So they're just hung out to dry really. I think the MVI has really good intentions and instead of spoon-feeding you, they really just help you get back on your feet and make life comfortable for you. That must be such an awesome feeling for some of those people. I think that one of the women in the clip made an awesome point: people serve their time and are able to come back into society but aren't accepted by society. This is a huge problem, especially if that person is seeking a job and can't get one b/c of their past. If you don't help someone move forward, they'll only be forced to stay apart of their past.

How well you think poverty is addressed currently in the United States and globablly.
I think that poverty is addressed immensly; people just don't want to be exposed to the issue if it's not something that really has to do with them. After this session I thought to myself, "does it really have to be the government that addresses this issue?" Could it start with people who can sympathize with people in poverty and are willing to make a difference in their lives. If every poverty stricken area had something like this in their communities, what would happen? How much would change and how many people would we see giving back to the community than "taking" from it?

This session brought me back to points that I mentioned in my blog post titled "Do Neighborhoods Matter." I came to the conclusion that Yes, they do matter and that's exactly how I feel about housing and community development. These things matter and as much as we ignore it, the worse it's going to get. The progress of the Urban Policy Plan seems like it's advancing and could be really beneficial to the poverty population.

Who you think is poor?
After this session, obviously people who have no other option but to live in low-income housing or people who were formerly incarcerated or that have some type of record that are denied the opportunity to work.

Social Security

I found this session to be really boring. I think that people don't need to think or understand money to benefit from social security. Part of their paycheck goes in to it, then when they are at retirement age they can start collecting money back from it. However for the majority of people, they'd be better off if they set the same amount aside that is taken in taxes and instead invest in long term safe investments. The whole system of social security is a sort of pyramid scheme and depends on enough money coming in to match the amount getting paid out. It wouldn't be a big deal except that too many people are getting benefits of social security without really having paid their fair share in. I don't think that social security is intended to equalize wealth. It's supposed to be a way for people earning money to set some aside and then take it back out during retirement.
What you think is being done about poverty? I guess that this is kind of a good way to help senior citizens who are in poverty. I mean it's not really a direct program for people in poverty however they do get to benefit from it when they reach a certain age.