Linux Operating Systems Essays - Software, Computer Architecture

Linux Operating Systems Tired of using Windows 95, or maybe just plan tired of the plainness of their interface. Well my friend there is a solution to all of your ails. A man by the name of Linus Travolds and many other professors, and programmers from around the globe have come up with a free offshoot of the operating system UNIX. What they have done is truly amazing, and has brought a very powerful multitasking operating system to the masses. This solves all of my problems with the computer and has happily been using a distribution of Linux from a company called RedHat for the past year or so. And best of all I received the operating system for free with the purchase of a book that tells me everything I want to know about this awesome operating system. Some may say that they won't get the game support for Linux that they have for Windows 95, but I beg to differ. There are currently a number of companies who are making Linux available on new systems, and game companies such as ID offer there games already ported over to the Linux operating system. This is why I believe Linux is one of the best choices for an operating system.

Relationship Between Law of Demand and Supply and National Minimum Wage The WritePass Journal

Relationship Between Law of Demand and Supply and National Minimum Wage Introduction Relationship Between Law of Demand and Supply and National Minimum Wage IntroductionThe Law of DemandThe Law of SupplyEquilibriumNational Minimum WagesHistory – UK’s Minimum WagesMain principles to highlight the ‘National Minimum Wages’:Arguments in favour of ‘National Minimum Wages’Potential Economic and Social BenefitsHigher tax revenuesReduction in labour turnover  References:-Related Introduction Supply and demand are one of the basic models of economics and they are main characters of a financial system. Demand means how much quantity of the service or product customer is willing to buy. At constant factors, price of the product increases or decreases as its demand increases or decreases respectively. While supply means the quantity of services or goods, producers willing to supply to consumer at certain price. At constant factors, quantity of products supplied increases as price of the product increased. The Law of Demand According to the ‘Law of Demand’, â€Å"Higher the price of the product results in less demand as less people wants to buy it, at the constant factors.† Graphically we can present the Law of Demand as below, In figure 1, A, B and C are points on the demand curve. Every point on the curve shows a direct relationship between amounts of the products demanded (Q) and price (P). So, at point A, the quantity demand will be Q1 and the price will be P1, and so on. The demand relationship curve shows the negative relationship between price and quantity demanded. The higher the price of a good the lower the quantity demanded (A), and the lower the price, the more  the good will be in demand  (C). The Law of Supply According to the ‘Law of Supply’, â€Å"Higher the price of the product results in high supply of the quantity of the product.†Ã‚   Because higher supply of the product at high price the revenue is maximum. Graphically we can present the Law of Supply as below, Figure 2: The Law of Supply In figure 2, A, B and C are points on the supply curve. Every point on the curve shows a direct relation between quantity supplied (Q) and price (P). At point B, the quantity supplied will be Q2 and the price will be P2, and so on. Equilibrium It is the point, at which quantity demanded and supply of the goods are same or equal. At equilibrium distribution of products is more effective because amount of the product supplied is exactly the same as the quantity of the product demanded. Graphically we can present the Equilibrium condition as below, Figure 3: Equilibrium At the point of intersection of the supply and demand curve equilibrium takes place. At this point, the price of the goods will be P* and the quantity will be Q*. This figure is referred to as equilibrium price and quantity. National Minimum Wages A minimum wage is the least monthly, daily or hourly that employers should pay legally to the employees. Workers in Britain were sheltered for the first time on the last nine months of 20th century by ‘National Minimum Wages’. With the intention of the recommendation to the rate of ‘National Minimum Wages’ in 1997 the ‘Low Pay Commission’ was established. Low Pay Commission is   a kind of social partnership made up of three employer representatives, three worker representatives and three independent members, whose suggestions have been always agreed and government has always executed the suggested National Minimum Wages. National Minimum Wages has been restructured seven times, since April 1999. History – UK’s Minimum Wages In 1909  wages had always been synchronized by borough, but in 1909 the ‘Liberal governments Trade Boards Act’  formed the first national system of wage law. The act made four’ Trade Boards’ that set minimum wages which were different in different industries. In 1945 after the war, the Trade Boards, which is now well-known as Wages Councils broaden their power. Previously only relevant to industries where communal bargaining was weak,  they were now broader in scope. In 1986  the Wage Council system had grown-up during the mid 20th century, in 1980s there were  26 councils, covering 2 million workforces, primarily in low paid jobs like trade. In 1986 the Conservative government decreases the influence of the councils and prevents new ones from being starting, with the Wages Act. In 1993  wage Councils are  eliminated, due to resistance from trade unions, who favoured to practice group bargaining. In 1998  Ã¢â‚¬ËœThe Labour government’  established ‘The National Minimum Wage Act’. Trade unions, which in 1979 had characterized 55% of the employees, had been able of bargaining wages by group bargaining.  But in 1999 less than one in four employees were unionised, and a national solution was projected. The policy is resisted by Conservatives. In 1999  Ã¢â‚¬ËœThe national minimum wage’ executed. ‘The Low Pay Commission’ judges the best rate to be  Ã‚ £3.60 an hour for labours who are 22 and above. In 2009  Conservative backbencher Christopher puts forward a private members bill that suggested allowing workers to  optimum output of the minimum wage In 2010  on 1st October 2010 the wages  increased  to  £5.93, and the age at which meet the criteria for the top rate becomes 21 for the first time. A minimum wage for apprentices is also established, at  £2.50 per hour. Main principles to highlight the ‘National Minimum Wages’: It must be â€Å"enough to permit labours to sustain in vigorous existence. Hence, the wage must be designed on what the employees need for physical health and competence, and not what the trade will stand†. The â€Å"law have to be national, that is it should apply to the entire country†. It is to be a â€Å"nationwide least of real wages that worked out in its cash comparable will balance all local disparity in cost of livelihood† Arguments in favour of ‘National Minimum Wages’ The primary aim of National Minimum Wages is to decrease poverty and decrease the differences in pay. Another intention of National Minimum Wages is to cut the misuse of low paid labours. Potential Economic and Social Benefits Higher tax revenues Due to increase in the wages of low salaried jobs ,income tax and national insurance contribution is increased. State benefits would cost less Benefits like income support and benefits in council tax will be required less. A reasonable distribution of income across the people The primary reason of poverty contributes to increasing crimes. Argument is able to provide the employees reasonable pay for their work. Increasing productivity of labour Firms will have an inducement to lift the  yield  of workforce if they pay the minimum wage. This will lead to better investment in the  human capital. Reduction in labour turnover   Increased salary can decrease the labour turnover and rate of absence and can lead to motivate the labours to work to improve efficiency and reducing the expenses on turnover of employees. Potential earnings from the ‘National Minimum Wages’ Figure 4: Potential earnings from the ‘National Minimum Wages’ The National Minimum Wages in the figure 4 is put over the standard free market wage rate for a given job. Total employment reduced from point E1 to point E2 (expressing a loss of income for those who lost the jobs). At point E2, there is an increase in the income of those who stay in work.    Arguments against of ‘National Minimum Wages’ Increase in marginal cost of employment A National Minimum Wages put higher than the free-market wage for certain groups lifts the marginal cost of employing workers. So organisations will reduce   jobs, cut down   the hours of work and unemployment will increase. Pay leap-frogging Other labours will demand more wages to maintain differentials in pay, which will result in cost-push inflation and adversely affect the competitiveness of UK producers in terms of price in international market. Increased unemployment Low-skilled labours and young persons will be replaced by experienced older labours resulting into increase in unemployment. Cost of training Some organisations will try to cut the cost on training of employees because of falling rate of profit. Distortionary effect A National Minimum Wages does not take into consideration local disparity in cost of living and will result in distortionary effect in   the UK labour market. The impact of a minimum wage on employment Figure 5: The impact of a minimum wage on demand and supply of labours The impact of a minimum wage on employment points depends in part on the ‘elasticity of demand’ and ‘elasticity of supply’ of employment in dissimilar businesses. If workforce demand is comparatively inelastic then the narrowing in employment will be less harsh than if employers demand for workers is elastic with respect to changes in the income level. Effect of the National Minimum Wage in Industries According to, a report of ‘The Confederation of British Industry, (CBI) which gave the capable support to the National Minimum Wage, some key issues were as given below: There are not much evidences showing major impact on employment or unemployment. There are no visible errors upwards in typical earnings. There are some impacts of the National Minimum Wage on wage differentials directing towards the higher rates for workers. But it is only applies to thirteen percents of organisations. Exemption of under eighteen year olds from any minimum wage has been proven as useful for employers. To balance the cost of the minimum wage, some organisations have adopted work practices by making staff multi- skilled in their job. References:- britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156920/demand-curve britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574671/supply-curve http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1560/1/WRAP_Stewart_twerp630.pdf totalpolitics.com/blog/28013/history-of-the-uk-s-minimum-wage.thtml lowpay.gov.uk/lowpay/report/pdf/Revised_Report_PDF_with_April_date.PDF direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage/DG_10027201 investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp investopedia.com/terms/d/demand.asp investopedia.com/terms/s/supply.asp hmrc.gov.uk/paye/payroll/day-to-day/nmw.htm   http://tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/poverty/minwage_for.htm http://tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/poverty/minwage_against.htm

Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Euro Area Essay

Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Euro Area - Essay Example At its beginning stage, in 1990 the EU has made the free capital movement within the euro area and formation of a single market certain. In the second stage the EU introduced the formation of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) in the period of 1994-1999, which is the pioneer of the European Central Bank (ECB). The third and final stage has been traced by introducing the euro currency along with a single and common monetary policy of the European Central Bank in the euro area. It is noted that though each of the member of the EU are also the elements of the EMU, however, the euro area does not consist of all the EU countries. Only the members who have considered the euro as their currency have been incorporated in the euro area. Only these countries are liable towards the ECB’s monetary policy. Except the UK and Denmark, all the member countries of EU have been entailed to become a part of the euro area by meeting the criteria regarding the specific economic convergence stan dards. The policies regarding the economic surveillances under the framework of the EMU demand that all members should guarantee the harmonization of their economic policies. Beside they are required to grant their mutual supervision of the union and reveal the regulations related with their financial as well as budgetary policies. With the provision of monetary policy, the stability of the single currency, the euro, is supported and emphasized. However, considering the strategy requirements towards the arrangements of pensions, labor or capital market, the fiscal policy, the policies of taxes and expenditures, remains under the control of the individual state governments of the member countries. But for functioning of the EMU directions effectively in accordance with its requisite, a supportive public finance is necessary along with supple and assimilated labor, product, and financial markets. Governments of all the member countries are required to sustain their

Irrational Consumer Behavior. Why consumer often makes irrational Essay

Irrational Consumer Behavior. Why consumer often makes irrational decision to buy a low quality product because of advertisement or cultures - Essay Example Often a big poster of advertisement or television leads people to make some irrational decision in buying products. The role of television advertisement is significant in irrational consumer behavior (Mafe & Blas, 2007). Consumers often buy a low quality product because they were â€Å"deceived† by the advertisement. This happens because a majority number of individuals just trust tons of beautiful fonts, and words on the advertisement without making any further research about the products. The importance of the sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin) plus peer pressure play an important role in irrational buying. Thus, the marketers often create great teasers to play with the consumer emotion because they know that the coherent pictures and the dynamic graphic on the commercial video are enormous stimuli for getting the consumer attention. Advertisement makes a lot of people ignore the details that are more important than the words that are written on the advert isement. If individuals do more research before they buy the products, they will make the rational choice. However, only a few people are eager to look up additional information on the internet when they are already falling in love with the advertisement on the Television, and Posters. Furthermore peer pressure is also involved in influencing people’s mind when deciding the products that they want to purchase. All of this influential advertisements, that are created by marketers often lead people in choosing some of the bad choices. The marketer has a great way to advertise their product in society with the right timing, and at the right moment. Therefore, people’s perception of being interested at some commercial often lead many people to forget about the health issue because of their subliminal perception. This forces the consumers to purchase more expensive products of low quality because of advertisement Stimulus of the big brand products, and get a poor service by paying a great amount of money after just looking at the descriptive terms of the advertisement. Health is one of the crucial issues in this world. Individuals need health in order to do their jobs. However, there are a lot of health issues in today’s world. But why people often make an irrational decision by buying these unhealthy products with higher price instead of cheaper healthier foods? It is because people frequently consume unhealthy foods. For example, they are willing to spend $1 more for Soda like Coca Cola, and Sprite. This is because of they are attracted by the beautiful soda commercial. Many of soda firms contract a great marketers in their division to market the products. So today, a lot of Soda Corporations are focused on the subliminal perception of people. â€Å"Stimuli that are too weak or to brief to be consciously seen or heard may nevertheless be strong enough† (Schifmann & Kanuk, 2009, Pg. 160). It is about the stimulated awareness of people t hat responds to the advertisement they have watched. By understanding this fact, the marketers use the subliminal commands like DRINK SPRITE, and filming a commercial that tells the audiences that COKE is the best beverage to relieve the feeling of thirst. These types of advertisement have a high effectiveness in becoming a great attention grabber. A big number of people make an irrational decision by buying these drinks as their daily beverages when they can buy cheaper bottle of water that is healthier. Even though Soda brings many health issues like Diabetes, and Obesity, they don’t care about that because they prefer to satisfy their needs after watching the interesting advertisement. Mostly these ads are aired on television, and television advertisement plays a great role in purchase decisions

African Migration Essay Example for Free

African Migration Essay The African origin of early modern humans 200,000150,000 years ago is now well documented, with archaeological data suggesting that a major migration from tropical east Africa to the Levant took place between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago via the presently hyper-arid Saharan-Arabian desert. The path out of East Africa leads across North Africa, through the Nile corridor, and across the Red Sea, or across the Indian Ocean and the strait of Bab el Mandeb to the Arabian peninsula and beyond to Eurasia. Most of this interconnected landmass of the so-called Old World, the continental area encompassing Africa, Europe, and Asia, received migrants from East Africa by about 1. 5 million years ago. This migration was dependent on the occurrence of wetter climate in the region. Whereas there is good evidence that the southern and central Saharan-Arabian desert experienced increased monsoon precipitation during this period, no unequivocal evidence has been found for a corresponding rainfall increase in the northern part of the migration corridor, including the Sinai-Negev land bridge between Africa and Asia. The major feature of world populations through time is their increasing numbers. It is likely that many early human migrations resulted from the pressure of such demographic increases on limited food resources; disease, drought, famine, war, and natural disaster figure among the most important causes of early human migrations. Approximately 100,000 years ago, the first migrations of Homo sapiens out of their African homeland likely coincided with the ability to use spoken language and to control fire. Over the next 87,000 years humans migrated to every continent, encompassing a wide variety of natural environments. The Americas were the last continents to be reached by Homo sapiens, about 13,000 years ago. Why these earliest migrants left Africa to colonize the world is a complex, important question. The answer is likely to be found in a web of interrelated factors centered around human behavior, specifically behavior selected to reduce risk and increase the individuals’ fitness for survival. Calculated migration must have resulted from information sharing, alliance building, memory, and the ability to negotiate— all skills that necessarily accompanied increasingly complex social and cultural groups. The increasing complexity of existence inevitably led hominids out of Africa, resulting in a global distribution of diverse human groups. Increasing population may have prodded the migration of some groups. Armed with the attributes of culture, the distinctive, complex patterns of behavior shared by human groups, humans eventually adapted to and conquered virtually all global environments. Whatever the nature of human origins, whenever or wherever human societies and cultures first appeared, the peopling of our globe has been a product of migration from place to place. Given the small numbers of people and the vast distances they traversed, and considering their technologically limited modes of transportation, the movement of people around the globe seems miraculous. The examples of global colonization described below depended on interactions between people and between people and their environments. Gradually, sometime during the Middle Stone Age (perhaps 100,000 to 200,000 years ago), distinct patterns of interaction among humans and between them and the landscapes in which they lived emerged. Because the distinctive physical and social environments to which humans adapted were themselves constantly changing, cultures too continually changed. That early humans acquired technological and social skills can be inferred from widespread evidence of their material culture—stone tools and utensils, carved figurines, rock and cave art, and the like, dating from about 40,000 years ago—which has been found in most parts of the globe. The development of language unquestionably furthered the social and technological evolution of humans and facilitated systems of reciprocity and social exchange. For example, the division of labor in food production and the exchange and transportation of goods and products were greatly expedited by speech. Being able to assign different tasks to different individuals furthered cooperation and fueled the processes of social and cultural evolution. http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/unit_readings_3.html http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/unit_overview_3.html

Health: A Social Phenomenon Essay -- Health Care

Introduction With movements made by the governments and medical professionals of developed countries in the interests of giving patients more choice, the definition of â€Å"healthy,† especially in contemporary society, has become subjective (Freemantle and Hill 2002, Armstrong 1995, Bury 2008, Van Krieken et al. 2006: 379-380). Variations in interpretation appear between groups divided along socio-political, demographical lines, or even between individuals themselves (Freemantle and Hill 2002: 864, Heath 2005: 954, Blaxter 2000:44, Van Krieken et al. 2006). This ambiguity has underscored debates and conflicts in recent years between patients, academics, politicians, and medical practitioners on issues of medical authority, the extent of involvement in the decision making process over personal health as well as the health of others related to them through social structures and institutions (Van Krieken et al. 2006, Blaxter 2000, Bury 2008, White 2002). This essay will attempt to illustrate how â€Å"health† is a social phenomenon through the examination of power and inequality. It will focus on the social causes and effects of medicalisation and how the attitudes and positions people occupy in society influence their medical needs. This essay will also highlight some of the challenges faced by the societies around the world in addressing medical inequality. Medical dominance and medicalisation According to Foucault and Illich (in Van Krieken et al. 2006: 351-352), doctors and the medical profession have traditionally been empowered by their knowledge as the authority that society defers to with regards to the definition of disease and health. With improvements in medical technology as well as the advent of the hospital, an evolution... ...London: SAGE. Broom, D.H. and Woodward, R.V. (1996) ‘Medicalisation reconsidered: toward a collaborative approach to care’ in Sociology of Health and Illness, 18, 3: 357-378. Freemantle, N. and Hill, S. (2002) ‘Medicalisation, limits to medicine, or never enough money to go around?’ in British Medical Journal, 324: 864-865. Foucault, M. (2003) The Birth of the Clinic, London: Routledge. Heath, I. (2005), ‘Who needs health care- the well or the sick?’ in British Medical Journal, 330: 954-956. Moynihan, R. and Smith, R (2002) ‘Too much medicine?’ in British Medical Journal, 324: 859-860. Van Kreiken, R. Habbis, D. Smith, P. Hutchins, B. Haralambos, M. Holborn, M. (2006), Sociology: Themes and Perspectives (3rd ed), French Forest: Pearson Longman. White, K. (2002) ‘Race, Ethnicity and Health’ in An introduction to the sociology of health and illness, London: SAGE.

American Dream by James Truslow Essay

The ‘American dream’ is a term coined by James Truslow in his 1932 book Epic of America, but it is a concept as old as America itself: anything is possible if only the individual is willing to work hard. The dream draws immigrants to our shores and borders every year and keeps millions of Americans content in the idea that their toiling will pave the way to success for them and for their children. However, for every rags-to-riches story, there are thousands of other hard-working people who cannot get by, who do not have enough to eat, transportation, safe housing, or warm clothes in winter. There is much evidence that the American dream is little more than a myth, a false promise that keeps millions of people working themselves weary for a better tomorrow that will never come. The American dream is the promise of the Declaration of Independence, which indicates that our â€Å"inalienable rights† are â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† There is no single American dream, but Adams defines the concept in its most dignified sense: [It is the] dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement†¦a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which that are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. (qtd. In Ferenz) The lure of America for immigrants and the promise to its citizens is that, as Adams indicates, the individual is not held back by circumstances, but through individual efforts can pursue and attain whatever personal brand of happiness he or she desires. In the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt recognized the part the federal government needed to play in keeping the American dream alive-no longer was hard work the only factor involved in ensuring an acceptable standard of living. Under his administration, a number of social programs were put into place to help Americans achieve the dream, which Roosevelt described as â€Å"sufficiency of life, rather than†¦a plethora of riches [and] good health, good food, good education, good working conditions† (qtd. In Muir). Owing to these principles, Roosevelt’s New Deal included the Social Security Act, Fair Labor Standards Act that banned child labor and established a minimum wage, and a variety of programs that put Americans to work in civil service (Successes 4-6). Roosevelt’s programs and World War II helped drag the nation out of the Great Depression, but were not permanent solutions in making the American dream possible for all Americans. By the 1960’s, one in five Americans were living in poverty, and in his first State of the Union address in 1964, Lyndon Johnson declared, â€Å"an unconditional war on poverty in America.† (qtd. In Quindlen 1) Johnson, too, understood that the American dream was one not attainable through hard work alone. As Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, notes in her 2004 editorial, â€Å"from [Johnson’s] declaration a host of government initiatives sprang, including Head Start, an expended food-stamp program, and sweeping reforms in health care for the needy† (Quindlen 2). Unfortunately, in spite of the attempts of Roosevelt, Johnson, and others to lend a hand to those Americans who need it most, the feeling that the poor are responsible for their own troubles always seems to creep its way back into the American mind. We’ve all heard the rumors that the poor are lazy, that welfare is just n excuse not to get a job. Quindlen comments that â€Å"part of the problem with a war on poverty today is that many Americans have decided that being poor is a character defect, not an economic condition† (Quindlen 2). Public policy of the last few decades seems to follow this line of thinking: the Federal minimum wage has not risen since 1997 even as welfare reform movements have forced millions of people, many single parents, off public assistance and into minimum wage jobs. Quindlen argues that â€Å"forty years after Johnson led the charge, the battle against poverty still rages. The biggest differences today if that there is no call to arms by those in power† (Quindlen 1). How does this shift in American policy affect the status of the American dream? Can we still call ourselves the land of opportunity when the American dream eludes so many of our citizens? Should the American dream exist and is it really worth it to try and live by the dream? In July 2000, Mortimer Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report, wrote an essay about the success of the American dream. Zuckerman claims that â€Å"it is a dream on individual effort-talent, ambition, risk-taking, readiness to change, and just plain hard work-qualities that count more in America than social background of luck† (Zuckerman 120). That is a perspective that Zuckerman, a billionaire whose biography on the U.S. News and World Report website boasts he has substantial real-estate holdings, including properties in Boston, New York, Washington, and San Francisco can afford to have. The reality for most Americans, however, is not nearly so great. It is a reality where social background and luck play far too large a part in achieving the American dream. Two articles written a decade apart demonstrate that bitter reality. In USA Today in 1996, Charles Whalen writes that â€Å"beneath the misleading surface prosperity [of the 1990s] are numerous alarming trends,† among them â€Å"relentless downsizing, longer job searches and sluggish job creation, explosive growth in contingent work (part-time and temporary employment), and wage stagnation† (Whalen 2-3). One would be hard=pressed to find a list that better demonstrates the part luck plays in securing steady employment. Whalen also cites a survey, ironically conducted for U.S. News and World Report, that indicates â€Å"57% of those asked said that the American dream is out of reach for most families† (qtd. in Whalen 2). In 2006 in the Chicago Sun-Times, Clyde Murphy cites a â€Å"new report released by the Opportunity Agenda [that] measures the nation’s progress in living up to the American dream.† The findings? â€Å"That millions of Americans do not have a fair chance to achieve their full potential, despite their best efforts† (Murphy 33). Two of the reasons cited by the study are housing discrimination against blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are employment discrimination against women and minorities, which included favoring job candidates with â€Å"white-sounding† names. These findings clearly refute Zuckerman’s claim, demonstrating that background does in fact count more in America than individual effort when it comes to achieving certain aspects of the American dream. Another dubious claim in Zuckerman’s essay is that â€Å"anybody who wishes to work has the opportunity to move from the bottom of the ladder to a middle-class standard of life, or higher† (Zuckerman 120). As award-winning journalist Barbara Ehrenreich notes in her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform â€Å"assumed that a job was the ticket out of poverty and that the only thing holding back welfare recipients was their reluctance to get out and get one† (Ehrenreich 196). As a wealth of evidence suggests, this is the fundamental misperception surrounding the American dream. In her 2003 editorial A New Kind of Poverty, Anna Quindlen argues â€Å"America is a country that now sits atop a precarious latticework of myth. It is the myth that working people can support their families† (Quindlen 2). Quindlen interviews two women who run services for the homeless and impoverished in New York City, ant they note that more often they are seeing working families in dire need of their help. Indeed, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 report on poverty, America’s poverty rate has been climbing, from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.7 percent in 2004, the latest for which data is available. This translates into 37 million people who live below the poverty line. This is further complicated, however, by the way that the Census Bureau calculates the poverty level. Barbara Ehrenreich explains that â€Å"[it] is still calculated by the archaic method of taking the bare-bones cost of food for a family of a given size and multiplying that number by th ree. Yet food is relatively inflation-proof† (Ehrenreich 200). This method results in a base calculation of $9,310 for one person, with $3,180 added for each additional person in the household. As anyone who has ever lived on his or her own understands, those poverty calculations are very low. Ehrenreich points out that â€Å"the Economic Policy Institute recently reviewed dozens of studies of what constitutes a ‘living wage’ and came up with an average figure of $30,000 for a family of one adult and two children† (Ehrenreich 213). When compared to the federal poverty calculation of $15,670, the gap becomes glaringly apparent. Anna Quindlen explains â€Å"when you adjust the level to reflect reality, you come closer to 35 percent of all Americans who are having a hard time providing the basics for their families† (Quindlen 2). As pioneering psychologist Abraham Maslow’s research reveals, psychological and safety needs-the â€Å"basics† referred to by Quindlen, such as food and housing-must be fulfilled before other needs, core components of the American dream such as belongingness and self-esteem, can be met (Abraham 2). This creates a basic gap between those who can reach for the American dream and those who cannot; if all someone’s energy is focused on providing food and shelter, there is nothing left to reach for higher goals. In a 2002 essay What’s So Great About America? Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian immigrant, makes assertions that demonstrate some common misconceptions about Americans meeting our basic needs. â€Å"The United States is a country where the ordinary guy has a good life,† (D’Souza 23). He even goes so far to say that â€Å"very few people in America have to wonder where their next meal is coming from† (D’Souza 23). Sadly, this is not true. Quindlen indicates â€Å"the U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that 1.6 million New Yorkers†¦suffer from ‘food insecurity,’ which is just a fancy way of saying they do not have to enough to eat† (Quindlen 1). Ehrenreich reports that â€Å"according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 67 percent of the adults requesting emergency food aid are people with jobs† (Ehrenreich 219). Two other basic needs, safe housing and health care, are also beyond the reach of many Americans. â€Å"When the rich and the poor compete for housing on the open market,† writes Ehrenreich, â€Å"the poor don’t stand a chance. The rich can always outbid them, buy up their tenements and trailer parks, and replace them with†¦whatever they like† (Ehrenreich 199). This is exaggerated by the fact that â€Å"expenditures on public housing have fallen since the 1980s, and the expansion of public rental subsidies came to a halt in the 1990s† (Ehrenreich 201). Health care is another sad story. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans with no health insurance has been slowly rising, arriving at 15.7 percent in 2004, and as Quindlen observes, â€Å"poor kids are much more likely to become sick than their counterparts, but much less likely to have health insurance. Talk about a double whammy† (Quindlen 1). How can families dream big an d plan for the future as they worry about whether the next month will bring eviction or illness? Two people in particular have put a human face on the statistical evidence that the American dream remains out of reach for millions of hard-working Americans. At the urging of her editor at Harper’s magazine, Barbara Ehrenreich undertook a yearlong undercover investigation of living on low-wage jobs in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. She waited tables, worked as a maid, and worked at Wal-Mart, never revealing her statue as a reported, but keeping careful private diaries documenting the details of her experience. In spite of working at least full-time, usually more, she was unable to get by. The most heartbreaking part of her journey, however, was the people she met, women who were not just experimenting with the low-wage life, but who were trapped by it. They were women who were victims of the affordable housing shortage, who lived in cars, or if they were lucky, weekly rental motel rooms. They walked, rode bikes, or bummed rides to work. Certainly among those who experience food insecurity, they skipped meals or ate nutritionally void foods like hot dog buns because they couldn’t afford to eat. They were women with raw hands and sore backs, balancing two or more jobs who would never, in spite of their work ethic, move off that bottom rung of the social ladder. In a similar experiment, Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) and his fiancà ©e lived on minimum wage for thirty days in Columbus, Ohio and recorded the results for the premiere episode of his television series 30 Days. As Spurlock works eighteen-hour days making at least $7.50 per hour and Alex works for minimum wage at a coffee house, the pair is faced with a host of challenges that mirror the everyday trials of the working poor. Emergency room visits for a urinary tract infection and a sprained wrist cost them $1,217. D’Souza correctly comments that in America, â€Å"even sick people who don’t have money or insurance will receive medical care at hospital emergency rooms† (D’Souza 23), but he fails to take into account that suck care generates bills are equivalent to six weeks’ of full time minimum wage work. The most affordable housing they could find, a steal at $325 per month, has ant infestations, malfunctioning heat, and is upstairs from an apartment that was a crack house just the week before. Furthermore, their relationship is strained by the stress that results from the constant worrying about money. At the end of the month they find themselves hundreds of dollars in the hole, by permanently changed by their experience. When taken together, the accounts of Ehrenreich and Spurlock offer powerful insight into the everyday struggles of the working poor, those who are anything but lazy but still find themselves drowning financially, the American dream slipping further away all the time. Dinesh D’Souza claims that â€Å"in America your destiny is not prescribed. Your life is like a blank sheet of paper and you are the artist† (D’Souza 24). It is difficult to believe, however, that the millions of working poor are not trying to create a better destiny for themselves, only to find their dreams let down by the harsh realities of daily life. So why is the American dream still suck a pervasive part of our consciousness, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that hard work is not the ticket to prosperity, or even necessarily to a comfortable standard of living? In his â€Å"Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of the Right,† Karl Marx wrote that â€Å"religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for the real happiness† (qtd in Cline). Marx’s clever observation is that religion, in keeping the focus on the afterlife, keeps people from demanding fair treatment in this world. D’Souza suggests, however, that â€Å"capitalism gives America a this-worldly focus that allows death and the afterlife to recede from everyday view†¦the gaze of the people is shifted to earthly progress† (D’Souza 25). If this the case, why is it that we are not more aware of (and enraged about!) the decided lack of â€Å"earthly progress† of so many of our friends and neighbors? Some believe that it is because the American dream has taken the place of religion as today’s â€Å"opiate of the masses.† So long as we all believe that there is a better life ahead, that is we only work harder, our dreams are within reach, it is easy to be lulled into satisfaction about the inequality that is so common in America today. Barbara Ehrenreich predicts that someday the working poor â€Å"are bound to tire of getting so little in return [for their labor] and to demand to be paid what they’re worth† (Ehrenreich 221). Some challenge, echoing Marx, that Ehrenreich’s predication will not come true until the American dream, â€Å"the illusory happiness of the people,† is abolished in favor of a more realistic world view that recognizes that more than hard work, a hel ping hand is needed to make America truly the land of opportunity. From the survey that I took in class, 14 out of 20 people were surveyed and said that they to, disagree that the American dream should exist. They believe as well that there should be a more realistic view in society that allows you to get what you work for. Of the people that did agree, most were people between the ages of 18 and 21, people who have not yet, most likely gotten out into the real world to experience what type of life they can actually work for. If you too, disagree with the American dream, I ask you to go to this website: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/the-american-dream-is-not-for-rent , sign the petition, and keep working hard at what you do! Work Cited â€Å"Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.† Shippensberg University Website. Sept. 2005: 2-3. Web. 16 June 2009. Cline, Austin. â€Å"Karl Marx on Religion.† About.com. 5 Apr. 2006: n.pag. Web. 16 June 2009. D’Souza, Dinesh. â€Å"What’s So Great About America?† The American Enterprise. May 2002: 22-25. Print. Ehrenreich, Barbara. â€Å"Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.† New York: Owl Books. 2002: 20-38. Print. Ferenz, Kathleen. â€Å"What is the American Dream?† San Francisco State University Online Web Site. 31 Mar. 2005: n.pag. Web. 16 June 2009. Muir, Ed. â€Å"Narrowing the Highway to the American Dream.† American Teacher. Oct. 2004: 25. Print. Murphy, Clyde. â€Å"When Opportunity Knocks, It Skips Over Some Adresses.† Chicago Sun-Times. 14 Feb. 2006: 33. Web. 16 June 2009. Quindlen, Anna. â€Å"A New Kind of Poverty.† Newsweek. 1 Dec. 2003: 1-2. Web. 16 June 2009. Quindlen, Anna. â€Å"The War We Haven’t Won.† Newsweek. 20 Sep. 2004: 1-2. Web. 16 June 2009. â€Å"Successes and Failures of Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ Programs.† Bergen County Technical Schools and Special Services Web Site. 10 Mar. 2006: 4-6. 16 June 2009. U.S Census Bureau. 2005 Poverty Press Release. 30 Aug. 2005: n.pag. 16 June 2009. Whalen, Charles J. â€Å"The Age of Anxiety: Erosion of the American Dream.† USA Today. Sep. 1996: 1-3. Web. 16 June 2009. Zuckerman, Mortimer. â€Å"A Time to Celebrate.† U.S. News and World Report. 17 Jul. 2000: 120. Print.