There are 20 million people in the United States who would like a job and don’t have one or else have a part time job and would like or need more hours. These are those who are persistently without a job and are called the structurally unemployed. Their numbers has grown over the last few years. They are people who are unemployed because they have a criminal record, because they lack the skills or do not have the required education, because of where they live, in rural areas where jobs can be scarcer, because they are disabled, have a history of mental illness, or drugs. In more cases than Continue reading “The Structurally Unemployed”
Category: Poverty
A Nursing Home for Sex Workers
In many countries once sex workers are no longer desirable enough to work, they end up destitute and homeless. Carmen Munoz saw that, and a sex worker herself she was not only touched by their plight she wanted to prevent this from happening to her. Her own story can be typical of why women go to work in one of Mexico City’s several red light districts. At 22 with 7 children, her husband left her. She heard of a priest who helped people find jobs, but after Continue reading “A Nursing Home for Sex Workers”
About a Refugee Selling Sex
There’s a rundown large park in Athens, the Pedion Aeros Park, there a section of the park is known as a place to get sex. Mostly older men walk by at night in search of it. There too several refugees from Afghanistan and other countries, live in tents or however they can, and earn a living selling themselves. One 20-year old Afghan interviewed for the article I read said he was ashamed of what he did, but that was the only thing he could do. The alternatives were to steal, or deal in drugs and that seemed the least violent to him. He is in Greece illegally, cannot find any country that will have him and has no money to pay smugglers. In a place where sex can readily be had, the price goes down, so he gets Continue reading “About a Refugee Selling Sex”
Medecins Sans Frontieres–A Lesson In Principles
If there’s one group that meets with as much approbation as one can in our modern world, it is Medecins Sans Frontieres. They recently turned down a million doses of a pneumonia vaccine from Pfizer, the big pharma giant. The head of MSF explained why. Pfizer’s was a one time donation. Sure many children would benefit and many lives would be saved. But that would not solve the problem. The problem is how unaffordable the vaccine PCV13 sold as Prevnar 13, is. A course of treatment is 3 to 4 doses, and one doze in Morocco costs Continue reading “Medecins Sans Frontieres–A Lesson In Principles”