Category: Unit 2 (Page 4 of 6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFrqTFRy-LU

The link sometimes goes to the end of the video for some reason. Please restart it to view. Was any of the info surprising to you? Your thoughts on global distribution of resources and wealth? Of course, things are constantly changing, and climate change is and will be a huge driver of increasing poverty, and decreasing access to food, water, and housing. This was not an OP-Ed, but in Unit 3 you’ll be writing in a different genre, which could include a video like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3VFmmqFCoM

Have you seen this? Have you ever thought about how much a billion is? A billion dollars? Remember, each grain of rice represents $100,000, a hundred thousand dollars. Each grain of rice was 100 thousand dollars. At Federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, working 40 hours a week, one of those grains of rice would take 344.8 weeks to earn, that’s over 6 and a half years without a week off. What’s your reaction? Your thoughts? After watching this I was curious about how many US billionaires there are. The United States now has 630 billionaires, whose wealth totaled nearly $3.4 trillion (a trillion is a thousand billions!), as of April 29.  Only 76 had over 10 billion, though. according to Forbes magazine. I almost felt a little sorry for the lowest ones on the list, having just a few billion dollars each.  How does Jeff Bezos get away with paying no income tax in some recent years, and a pittance in others? check out this remarkable article if you’re interested in what he and other billionaires do to avoid paying taxes that could help the rest of us improve public services like education, healthcare, childcare, etc.https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax 

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/new-jim-crow/

The name Jim Crow is often used to describe the segregation laws, rules, and customs which arose after Reconstruction ended in 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. What is Michelle Alexander’s main idea in this piece? What does she think is our current version of Jim Crow? How strong is her evidence and argument? While this was published over a decade ago, is it still relevant?