Ebola and Globalization

                I learned a lot that I did not know about Ebola. I learned that the disease is originally thought to have started in a river but it is suspected to be carried by bats. I also learned that in the United States it is more likely for a person to get struck by lightning than contracting Ebola. Our team figured out that the only thing to do to stop the virus was to quarantine it. We had to cut the host out of the environment. We realized that the reason the virus spreads so furiously in Africa is because of their poor living conditions. It is very difficult for them to avoid contact with the disease. So we figured why not remove the disease from the area. We decided to do the same thing that was done to the lepers. We decided the most effective way to remove the contagion from the environment would be to put it on an island. On the island you can control the contact with the infected ensuring no more people infect themselves.

Striking Things About Healthcare

1. That the American Dental Association is contributing $1.3 million dollars to this corruption.
2. That health professionals are spending $46.7 million on lobbying. What kind of system is it that health professionals (doctors) are spending millions of dollars in politics. 
3. The years this country went through a depression, 2007-2009, more money was spent on lobbying than in the previous 9 years.
4. People tend to think of the GOP as the greedy old men that would do accept these bribes and corruption. People wouldn't be wrong on average more money tends to be spent on republicans. However in 2008 the democratic party was paid $17 million more than the GOP.
5. I find it wrong that the American people are told that we do not have enough money for health care or that a socialized health care system would never work because we don't have the money. They tell us these things all while they contribute $1.3 million to the campaign's of politicians like Mitch McConnell.
6. I find it striking that a congressman or woman the people who are supposed to honorable and uphold the constitution of these United States can be bought for an average of $153,000.
7.  The fact that whichever party is controlling the senate is the one that is getting paid the most. However in the last 10 years whenever one party gets a raise the other party does to.
8. I find it outstanding that the top contributors spent an estimated $19.7 million on buying politicians when they could have been putting that money to good use, at least something more useful than politics.
9. I find it interesting how the amounts of money being paid out in 2014 severely dropped. Almost like after Obama won his next presidency the companies decided to give up for awhile until the next election.
10. I find it astounding that physicians and other healthcare professionals are some of the largest contributors to politicians. No private company or specific person should be allowed to buy these politicians as plainly as it happens today. 

The Cost of Health Care

               

                So, recently we watched the Michael Moore documentary Sicko. This was an enlightening documentary. I have never quite understood the American health care system. Not so much the fact that we pay our doctors or the amount checkup costs.  The things I have never understood was how much medicine cost, the cost for simple procedures such as X-rays and blood draws, and the fact that some people were denied proper treatment because they didn’t have insurance or their insurance simply denied them the care they needed. I find it wrong that we charge high prices for medications. We even charge people for penicillin a drug so easily produced that it was accidentally discovered on bread. That fact that last year my parents paid over $100 dollars for a blood draw and lab work. A blood draw is simple a nurse draws blood, they send it to the lab, a lab tech looks at a sample of the blood under a microscope and tries to determine if there are any identifiable diseases or conditions in the blood. None of this procedure is hard or should cost more than maybe $20. I find it very disturbing that health insurance companies hire doctors to evaluate cases in order to turn people down for the care they need just so the company doesn’t have to pay. Doctors take a Hippocratic Oath part of this oath is that they will not intentionally harm someone and that they will always provide care to people. By purposefully turning down people who need care just so insurance companies don’t have to pay aren’t these doctors breaking their oaths. Shouldn’t these people be punished or even imprisoned. We live in a system of fear. We need to break free.

The Horror of Trafficking

Human trafficking is terrible. Straight no doubt about human trafficking is one of the worst things in the world. Not only is it one of the worst things but is one of the most unrecognized things in the world. Most people do not know about human trafficking that’s why the End It movement is so effective. Most people would rather believe that we have abolished all slavery, when a clear truck comes rolling down the street showing women in slavery it is a massive shock to people.

                Human trafficking doesn’t just target women. It also targets small children. This is one of the sickest things in the world. To think that there are people out there who get these children specifically for the sickest scum of the earth to prey on them. There is nothing more horrible than a child having their life taken away by these monsters. Even if these children are rescued they will never be the same. It would be almost impossible to live a normal life after being trafficked.

                Human trafficking needs to be a greater focus in this world. We worry so much about guns, drugs, and war. The real thing we should be stopping is this cruel trade that uses people as product.  

Globalization and Women

Women, they always want more. Ever since the 80’s women have been growing in their job roles. Women have started running businesses and many hold the same positions as men in the working world. The argument that women make less than men can clearly be proven. However I believe that the reason women make less than men is that they are so eager to prove they can do the same or better jobs as men that they have a tendency to be willing to work for less.

                Women are starting to hold extremely high roles in governments around the world. Some women are even running countries. Many people wonder why the United States has never had a woman president. I believe the answer to this is quite simple. Usually a female candidate for president will make a big fuss about how she will change things in the country for women and women should be treated differently. They often out men as being sexist and try to push hard for the empowerment of women. However by doing this they lose the votes of men who feel that all the female candidate wants to do is to prove a point about women. Men make up a large portion of votes so when a feminist is pushing for office she tends to lose out on votes fairly early.

                Women across the globe get held to different standards, with globalization we see these standards starting to become the same. This can be good for some countries and bad for others. If a woman in America is held to the standards of women from Muslim or Islamic nations she will try to become empowered because the other women do not have that capability. If a Muslim or Islamic woman is held to the standards of an American woman she may become angry seeing that she does not have the freedom or powers an American woman has.

                Women have proven they can do the same jobs as men just as well. They do deserve to get equal pay. Women often times will bring feminism upon themselves and hinder themselves when they should be fighting for equality. Holding to the standards of women from foreign countries can often times be a bad thing as seen in this article, http://sociology.emory.edu/faculty/globalization/issues02.html.

Migration

       Migration is a huge deal in the world today. It is almost a bigger deal now than it was in the past. Not because more people are migrating, actually less are, but now it has more of an effect on the world than it did before.


       Push/pull factors are probably the main reason why people migrate. The Irish moving from Ireland during the Potato Famine, Mexicans crossing the border to America for better paying jobs, and even Americans  moving to other countries. Whatever the push/pull factor there is always somebody who is not happy with where they are living and/or want something better that they believe they can find by simply moving to another country.


          I used the example of the Irish fleeing Ireland because of the famine because this is a great example of how economies and communities can be altered as a result of migration. Many thousands of Irish left Ireland and a large deal of them wound up in cities like New York and Boston. This altered the economies of these cities because the Irish were willing to work for almost no pay. With this many more people elections were changed. Politicians now had thousands more votes to buy. Many of the Irish men also joined the union to fight in the Civil War adding additional troops that otherwise would have been there.


       The other lesser common cause of migration is forced migration. When people are forced out of their homeland. Examples of this are The Lost Boys from Sudan and even the Cherokee on The Trail of Tears. Forced migration tends to be much different in the fact that those people don't want to give up their culture. With voluntary migration we see a melting pot effect where people conform to new local culture but hold on to some of their own. With forced migration people want to keep doing things the way they have always done them. They want to make their new home the same as their old home.

Globalization

 The other day we watched two videos on globalization. These were very good points in both of these videos about the good and bad of globalization. I personally believe that globalization is not a good thing.
   For starters globalization uses up finite resources. With the more of the world mass producing products in the cheapest ways they can find. Resources like oil, trees, and coal are being used at a depleting rate.
   Next is the fact that is bad for the ozone. With more companies using mass shipping processes and factories polluting the air they are quickly burning up the atmosphere.
   Next is the fact that now all governments and economies effect each other. This makes it impossible for foreign leaders to change laws and policies of their own country without knowing the implications it will have on the world and global markets.
   Globalization also contributes to the increase in oil prices. This is because of the shipping done by companies, virtually all shipping uses large amounts of oil and gas which depletes supply and increases the price.
    Globalization also moves jobs for developed countries to less developed countries. Some people see this as a good thing because they believe it gives the poor jobs. However the amount of child labor and slave labor in countries like China has increased with globalization. Besides that fact it is still taking jobs from hardworking nationals.
    Another thing that globalization does is to increase dependence on foreign countries for resources. Which is fine as long as the system of reliance stays in balance. However that never happens, something always happens to throw balance off. The loss of this balance causes the loss of a resource in certain countries and causes them to scramble to try to find other ways of obtaining that resource which drives the price of the resource up.
    These are the reasons I believe that globalization is a bad thing. It drives prices, puts pressure on governments, and uses up resources. I believe that Globalization is here to stay but I still do not believe it is a good thing.