Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Japanese Mothers Paid To Have Kids?

Source:
CNN

Japan has one of the worlds lowest birth rates. In fact the majority of the population is over fifty years old. They wish to lower the number from sixty-five to forty by 2050 but that's a long way away and the lack of young children and teenagers is a huge strain on their economy.

Don't worry! The Democratic Party of Japan is coming to the rescue! They're offering to pay Japanese families to have another child! A set amount every year until the child reaches High School. Some people are thrilled with the idea while others aren't quite as thrilled. A mother mentioned in the CNN article says it would help very much with a second child while an economist claims it doesn't help the problem.

What is the problem? Economist Yuri Okina believes it is the lack of day care centers. It's practically impossible for a mother to go to work and raise her kids due to the lack of day care. She wants to make it a normal thing for a woman to have a career and children in Japan. She isn't alone in her beliefs. Other critics have claimed this plan doesn't fix the day care issue as well.

It's up to the Japanese government to decide whether it would be more wise to throw money at indecisive parents or if it would be wise to open more day care. As of now, they're handing out money.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Zimbabweans Trials and Tribulations

Although at the moment Zimbabwe isn't facing wars and attacks, they are facing situations much more serious; such as food shortages and fatal disease. Right now five million Zimbabweans face starvation. And humanitarians fear an epidemic of cholera, a disease that booms in areas without clean water and proper sanitation. United Nations say more than half of the population have limited access or no access to clean water. And to make things worse doctors are on strike requesting a $1000 monthly salary as well as housing and car allowances. Zimbabweans situation worsened last year after an economical collapse. But United Nations are trying to fix their situation, but sadly have only raised 44% of the needed funds.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/08/19/zimbabwe.humanitarian.day/index.html

This story is really sad and touching. I believe that more can be done to help them. Americans have been over in the middle east for nearly a decade now. Why isn't that much dedication being put forth to help starving and dying families?