Jobs, Less Inflation Drive Down Misery By Marilyn Geewaxis

“It is Expensive to be Poor”, a work by Barbara Ehrenreich, published in The Atlantic January 13, 2014 discusses the trials and tribulations faced by struggling families. One may ask themselves why Ehrenreich published this article in The Atlantic, who is she trying to reach? According to stateofthemedia.org, The Atlantic’s average reader is 53 years old and has a household income of $88,000 per year. Ehrenreich’s works are often opinion pieces related to social injustice, women’s rights, healthcare, and economic injustice. With this information I can infer the audience are middle- aged, middle class women who are likely to empathize with the “struggling heroines” mentioned in this work. Ehrenreich wrote this article to educate her audience on the lifestyle of the poor in “the wealthiest country in the world”. She uses rhetorical devices such as

Lyubomirsky defines happiness as the “experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile” (184). She challenges the myths that people can find happiness by changing their circumstances and that people either are “born happy or unhappy” (186). Happiness is not something that can be found or something that not everyone can have. People make their own happiness, despite the difficulties they may face. Happiness comes by “choosing to change and manage your state of mind” (185). Lyubomirsky gives cases of people who are happy even though they suffer from losses and setbacks. These are the people whose circumstances should make them unhappy, but their intentional actions bring them joy. She also gives cases of people who have not suffered any major losses but are still unhappy because they may see events negatively and feel helpless before them. Lyubomirsky asserts that “changes in our circumstances, no matter how positive and stunning, actually have little bearing on our well-being” (186). Even though a person’s circumstances may be positive, those circumstances do not make them happy. Lyubomirsky uses a Subjective Happiness Scale to measure happiness, which takes the average of numerical answers to four questions. She argues that in order to become happier, “you need to determine your present personal happiness level, which will provide your first estimate of your happiness

In the United States, there are roughly eleven million people who can be classified as illegal immigrants, which is by far way too many. When it comes to the history of illegal immigrants, most United States citizens could be considered as an illegal immigrant. In the early years of American history, our ancestors fled into this country for better life styles and to start their own families. During this time there were not laws dealing with who could and could not enter this country illegally, so we cannot be classified as illegal immigrants. The United States of America needs to place more rigid laws regarding immigration by enforcing stricter border control policies and place a greater emphasis on becoming a legal citizen.

I was raised by my hardworking grandmother and aunt who both taught me the values of hard work and making an honest living. As a child, I would read about the lives of women who fought long and hard for the right to earn money for themselves and gain recognition for their accomplishments. After reading their stories, I would be filled with a sense of pride and relief. Pride, because my grandmother and aunt were continuing the legacy of those women and relief; that I was growing up in a time where I didn’t have to worry about getting sneered at for choosing to pursue a career. Because I was a child, I figured everybody had moved on from the old outdated beliefs about women in the work place.

Albert Ellis was one of the most influential psychologists in American history, who lived between September 27, 1913 and July 24, 2007. In junior high, Ellis had his sights set to become a great novelist. His original plan was to study accounting in high school and college, retire around the age of 30, and write without having to worry about finances. Unfortunately, the Great Depression stopped Ellis from furthering his dream. However, he managed to finish college with a degree in Business Administration from the City University of New York in 1934. In Ellis’ spare time, he wrote short stories, plays, comics, essays, and novels. At the age of 28, he had written over two dozen manuscripts, but he could not get them published. It was then Ellis realized that his future did not involve being a novelist

Heady, Wooden, and Muffels (2008) focused on how economics contributes more to happiness than previously thought. It uses the findings of household panel studies conducted in Australia, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Russia to reassess the accepted view of psychology and economics that money has little to do with happiness. It challenges the view of the Easterlin Paradox concept, and uses the household panel study data to suggest that the relationship between money and happiness has more of a correlation than we think. Various techniques such as surveys, mathematical equations, and sampling were described in detail to show how the household panel studies measured life satisfaction. Through the findings of these studies, Heady,

The subject of this paper is the age-old question, “Does Money Buy Happiness”. On the surface, this question appears to be an easy one. Happiness however, is a subjective item. To better answer this, several points must be analyzed such as, “What is happiness?”, “How is it measured?” etc. To better streamline this process, a research question was developed:

In the article “THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS", John Ikerd review the ideas within economic history and the effects of economic on our happiness. I think that while all of us want something so much that we think that if we own it; it will make us happier. We can see that advertisements of gadgets such as Apple products: iPod and especially iPhone and iMacs computers try to sell us the illusion that buying their products would make us special and unique. Psychological research shows that happiness that comes from buying a new product is only temporary and lasts only for a short time. In addition, statistics show that 1 in 10 Americans will suffer from depression, which means we became a nation of unhappy people despite all the wealth we have. I

In today’s materialistic world, the phrase that ‘money can’t buy happiness’ is tending to be proved hence otherwise. Social research and surveys have shown results based on an individuals income, health and the political scenario which is dominant in his or her region. It is quite obvious that the gap between the privileged and the not so is growing into a great divide giving rise to different class and status, thus defining ones social circle. It should therefore be understood how an individuals economic status affects their personal happiness throughout all aspects of life. Many tend to refer to this age-old quote especially when they tend to belong to sector of people who can’t afford the modern day luxuries of life. What they do not

Happiness Industry by William Davies explores the history of capitalism, economics and psychology and the impact of the politics on the well-being due to low-level mental health. Over the past years, there has been an increase emphasis on what happiness really is. Is happiness a subjective or objective feeling? According to Davies (2015), “Happiness itself may not be an objective, physical phenomenon but it occurs as a result of various sources of pleasure, which have a firm, physiological basis”. (p, 18)

Summary: Governments from various places around the world are now using psychology and the economics of happiness to influence public policy. This was facilitated by the report by Stiglitz et al. which epitomized a “push for policies to explicitly promote increases in survey measures of wellbeing as a major social objective”. Consequently, the authors measured personal or social welfare using happiness data. Because of the scarcity of resources, improving happiness will reallocate resources away from other desires or objectives. Interestingly, recent research suggests that there’s a distinction between happiness and utility. The goal of this paper is to show that welfare economics doesn’t justify happiness maximisation as a policy goal.

In our everyday lives we are faced with many issues and problems that question some of the decisions or choices we make. Some of our actions bring about happiness and some promotes the reverse of such actions. According to the theory of utilitarianism which is a part of normative ethics states, “best moral action is the one that maximizes utility.” In other words it relates to the well-being and the state of happiness in an individual. The famous British philosopher John Stuart Mill also argued that, “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong in proportion as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (pg. 5). Each individual rate happiness in accordance to what its definition is or their interpretation of happiness. Globally, “happiness” can be defined as pleasure in the absence of pain.

Unemployment has always been something that Americans have worried about since the great depression in which one in every four people was unemployed. High unemployment has an impact on every one even those whom are still currently employed. For example if the unemployment rate is particular high then even those with jobs get worried. Unemployment is also separated in to distinct categories base on which group is the focus of the study. The categories can be by race, age or location, for example the unemployment rate of those between the age of sixty and sixty-five could be compared those between the ages of thirty and thirty-five. These categories allow economist to see which groups are the best and which groups are worst off. One group

If we look at this issue in general as a worldwide problem, unemployment is a vastly growing issue worldwide. It can be very damaging for a country’s economy and as well as very hurtful for a country’s reputation. Unemployment describes the health of an economy, the higher the rate of unemployment the worse is a country’s economy. Many people actively search for jobs in today’s world and when unemployment rate is high they are unable to find jobs that will provide them with decent paychecks.

In times of economic crisis and employment, you do not have a lot of options to work. Unemployment increased and even though you do not like your job, you are bored and uninterested, you cannot stop.