...AMERICA'S AFFLUENCE AND OBESITY America's Affluence and Obesity Cassandra L Thomas American Intercontinental University Abstract The problem of obesity in America has risen to epidemic levels. Congress in 2002 charged the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to find ways to prevent this epidemic. The IOM appointed nineteen experts to handle this issue, experts in health, obesity, nutrition, physical activity, and public health. It has been determined that it is not just up to Congress but also the individual. ("Preventing Childhood Obesity:" 2005). This paper will take a look at how the affluence of America plays a part in this epidemic. (I.O.M 2004). America's Affluence and Obesity America’s Affluence and Obesity Since the beginning of America, folks have lived off the land. Vegetables, fruits were grown on lands free from pesticides and fertilizers. Animals used for food were allowed to eat what the land offered. People grew vegetable gardens, and traded with each other. They made their own preserves, from fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh foods were in great abundance and there was very little waste. Then there came an educated generation that had no use or respect for the land. New Generation This new educated generation, felt they were much too educated to work the land, they went after the dollar, it became all about making money. Money to buy bigger houses, bigger cars, lusting the glamour, and glitter of Hollywood. The world became aware of what America was...
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...Homelessness in America Tonight, across America, as many as 3.5 million people will not have a safe place to go to sleep. The homeless will be sleeping out in the cold, on a park bench or in the gutter. The lucky ones may be sleeping in a shelter tonight. These so called shelters are sometimes even more dangerous because they are frequently over-crowded and understaffed. But the real question is, in the land of opportunity, where the typical family has more televisions than family members and an average of two cars, why are there so many citizens on the street, struggling to survive from day to day? How are so many people, fellow human beings, sleeping on sidewalks, begging for spare change, and digging through garbage cans just to find food to eat? While the general impression is that the homeless are primarily alcoholics and drug abusers, more than half the homeless are families with children. The vast majority of these have been thrust into homelessness by a life altering event or series of events that were unexpected and unplanned for. There are many reasons these unfortunate individuals are seen living on the streets of our cities. Homelessness is caused by tragic life occurrences like the loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, and divorce. Other impairments such as depression, untreated mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are also responsible for a large portion of the homeless. Many factors push people into living on...
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... use affluence to their advantage to avoid responsibility for their actions. Tom and Daisy Buchanan have a seemingly flawless marriage: a well-disciplined daughter, an enormous mansion in Long Island, New York, and one of the largest inherited fortunes in America. However, the couple would not have achieved a perfect image if they did not use money to hide their problems. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how the power of wealth helps the rich escape consequences of immoral behavior. Daisy consistently suffers emotional abuse from Tom’s affairs, yet she chooses not to face the results of confronting him and is still a loyal wife due to her fear of losing the protection that his money provides. Because Daisy’s inseparability from to wealth makes her unable to call out her husband, Tom evades the consequences of his cheating. Even though she is perfectly aware of her husband’s adultery, she does little to prevent him from seeing his mistresses in order to remain in a “distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belong” (22). That is to say, Daisy's decision to openly confront Tom about the scandals would not only pose a threat to their marriage and status but would also put at risk her comfort and stability provided by Tom’s affluence. Daisy...
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...disposable income. Along with the real decreases in food cost, per capita food availability has increased. Consequently, this smaller share of disposable income now buys many more calories, leading to the increase of obesity. The obesity epidemic has been fueled by historically low food prices relative to income. In the United States alone, an estimated 34,000 new cases of cancer among men (4%)...
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...THE LUXURY CONSUMER IN THE NEW DIGITAL WORLD: THEN & NOW 201 Four Seasons Luxury T 2 rend Report Luxury Trend Report | 1 The global luxury landscape and the luxury customer have evolved dramatically over the last tumultuous and transformative three years. The advent of unprecedented new technological innovations, coupled with the increased skepticism left over from the global financial crisis, mean that today’s consumers are demanding honest, accurate, timely and engaging information. They are looking for intrinsic value and a deeper relationship with the brands with whom they choose to support and interact. According to The Affluence Collaborative1, a research powerhouse that dives deep into the habits of high-income consumers, the affluent2 seek out companies and brands that can simplify and improve their lives. In the travel sector, this translates into increased expectations around personalization cutting across all touch points – including digital media platforms – as luxury travellers research, purchase, engage in and reflect upon their travel experiences. The Luxury Traveller Technology Survey3, commissioned by Four Seasons, coupled with leading luxury market research and brand insight, sets out to uncover how consumers want technology to blend seamlessly into their experience, and how those preferences have changed in recent years. strong performance in China and Latin America, are driving growth in the sector. All combined, the global luxury market is expected...
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...Listening to the poor explain what poverty is like in their own words is more vivid than reading descriptions of it. Listen to some of the voices of the poor about the experience of poverty in Box 1.1.1 From these, together with the voices of the poor recorded in Box 5.1 and Box 8.1, it is clear that what people living in poverty need and want extend beyond increased income to health, education, and—especially for women—empowerment. These correspond to enhanced capabilities and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, both of which are introduced later in this chapter. This first fleeting glimpse at life in different parts of our planet is sufficient to raise various questions. Why does affluence coexist with dire poverty not only on different continents but also within the same country or even the same city? Can traditional, low-productivity, subsistence societies be transformed into modern, high-productivity, high-income nations? To what extent are the development aspirations of poor nations helped or hindered by the economic activities of rich nations? By what process and under what conditions do rural subsistence farmers in the remote regions of Nigeria, Brazil, or the Philippines evolve into successful commercial farmers? These and many other questions concerning international and national differences in standards of living, in areas including health and nutrition, education, employment, environmental sustainability, population growth, and...
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...had its highs and lows, the recent subprime mortgage crisis, a $10.6 trillion national debt, and a growing unemployment rate are all indicators that America is in a recession. Though this paper may simplify the solutions needed to help the economy recover, they are based on sound economic principles. The national debt is the most pressing issue. Debt builds when I spend more money than I make. A national debt is not something new for America, but the size of the debt is alarming. Since 1981, the national debt has increased by a factor of 10. So even in those times when our country’s economy was booming, the amount of our debt increased. Solid financial planning always includes debt management. Currently, America has failed to manage its debt. Fighting two wars overseas, funding unnecessary projects, and the reduction of manufactured goods in America have contributed to this debt. As debt grows, so does the amount of the interest payment. This makes paying off that debt more difficult, since much of the payment is going towards the interest. However, with a lot of diligence, perhaps in 30 years when my children inherit the economy, they will have a debt-free America. We were not alone in creating this decline. There was much talk and writing for years about how the Japanese seemed to be on the verge of buying America and how the quality of products and services delivered by American companies had been outstripped by foreign competitors, especially the Japanese. TQM...
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...Current trends in Tourism -Ragasudha RV 2014 saw 1.1 billion international tourist arrivals according to UNWTO, roughly 5% rise from 2013. Europe accounts to more than half of these arrivals followed by Asia and America. Outbound tourists from China outnumber those from the USA and Germany, and are expected to increase even further. 50% travelled for leisure and recreation, 27% travelled for visiting family or friends, medical or religious reasons and another 15% travelled on business and profession. This shows that Leisure, VFR and Business remain the top three motivations for people to travel. In the luxury travel market, travellers from US, Europe and Japan are the dominant consumers. Continued growth in global GDP, change of leadership in countries like India and meetings like BRICs promise increase in economic performance in foreseeable future. In this backdrop, tourism scene looks promising as countries in Asia and Middle East compete to attract investments and visitors, and Europe and America look to seek partnerships with developing countries. Increase in affluence, disposable income and leisure time fuelled the desire to travel for new experiences. Provisions like Visa on Arrival and Visa Waiver Program enable hassle-free entry and saves time on travel formalities. Stressful professional life also necessitates the motivation to take short breaks by young professionals. Business travellers are often combining leisure element or bring their partners on the trips...
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...The cultural, social, and economic environment during the years prior to the planning, writing and publication the book of “Silent Spring” was a time of new affluence and intense social conformity. The cold war, with its climate of suspicion and intolerance, was at its zenith. The chemical industry, one of the chief beneficiaries of postwar technology, was also one of the chief authors of the nation’s prosperity. DDT enabled the conquest of insect pests in agriculture and of ancient insect-borne disease just as surely as the atomic bomb destroyed America’s military enemies and dramatically altered the balance of power between humans and nature. The public endowed chemists, at work in their starched white coats in remote laboratories, with almost divine wisdom. The results of their labors were gilded with the presumption of beneficence. The postwar America, science was god, and science was male. Carson first discovered nature in the company of her mother, a devotee of the nature study movement. However, Carson was confronted with the problem of environmental pollution at a formative period of her life. She witnessed her home town turning into iron and steel capital of the Western world, which the experiment led her to fight her suspicious of promises of “better living through chemistry”. One of Carson’s hypotheses was that science conceived and technology made possible must first be judged for its safety and benefit to the “whole stream of life.” The research was her...
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...Hydrofracking in Marcellus shale: The Consequences of America’s Gas Rush Introduction Demand for fossil fuels in America has led to a flurry of unorthodox methods for the extraction of natural gas. Fracking or hydrofracking in the U.S.A has proven to be an efficient way of extracting natural gas from permeable rock. A new large scale hydrofracking operation has been proposed in the eastern states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. This method of extraction is highly controversial, and is thought to have severe environmental and potential health consequences. This essay will provide further insight into the practice of Fracking in an area of shale known as Marcellus shale, and help to expose the environmental and human implications. What is Hydrofracking? Hydraulic Fracturing is an un-conventional process used in the extraction of gas in permeable rock (David 1973). A horizontal well is drilled into permeable rock such as shale and is injected with millions of gallons a high pressure fluid known as frac-fluid, this fluid is a mixture of sand, water, and an array of lubricating chemicals (Deutch 2011). The high pressure frac-fluid forces open fishers (cracks) within the rock which are kept open with sand granules; this allows pockets of gas to flow more easily from the shale (David 1973). Once the well is depleted all fluid that can be recycled is extracted, and the well is capped to stop any unused gas escaping (David 1973). The process of fracking is expensive and requires...
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...According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 18% of the United States population, a total of 40 million people, are affected by an anxiety disorder. The most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders states that Social Anxiety Disorder is, “a persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he or she will act in a way that will be embarrassing and humiliating” (DSM-IV-TR). Social Anxiety disorder is an increased issue in today’s society as it produces unproductive, unhappy members of society who, like the person in the image below displaying the effects of anxiety, are unable to...
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...amount of money we make. However, we count on each other to survive. The way that the economy is suffering is affecting us all. The state that the economy is in won’t let Americans change their status and have a better life than they were raised with. The Middle Class in the United States is suffering, they are the 99% of Americans that have to work to survive in America, usually children in the middle class don’t get to go to different classes. In paragraph 2 it’s states, “It said that we are becoming a society in which the poor tend to stay poor, no matter how hard they work.” This is true to most citizens in the United States and even other countries. There are only a few people that either: go above the middle class, go to the lower class, or in the lower class and just get up to the middle class. In paragraph 10 is states, “Very few children of the lower class are making their way to even moderate affluence. This goes along with other studies indicating that rags-to-riches stories have become vanishingly rare, and that the correlation between fathers' and sons' incomes has risen in recent decades. In modern America, it seems, you're quite likely to stay in the social and economic class into which you were born.” A lot of people's’ goals is to do better than their parents, but with our economy, that is hard to do. Our education isn’t the best, but it’s better than a lot of countries. It still is hard to do better in an economy that is doing worse. “BusinessWeek attributes...
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...The United States is one the largest countries in the world, and arguably the most powerful.In the time between the Reconstruction and the Great Depression, there were a multitude of events that largely contributed to America's development into a world power. They had a monumental effect on the way America ascended to the top of the political, social, and economical world ladder. Industrialization had a massive overall impact on the United States' growth as a nation. It carved the pathway to world domination. Industry is the core of any nation. Industry involves evryone. From the factory workers to the consumers, no one is left untouched. The United States is no exception. One of the most important. For a nation whose economy depended on railroads and urban development, steel was essential to the growth and affluence of its economy. 1 The Bessemer converter, which converts iron into steel, made it possible to produce steel in mass quantities. 2 This process was instrumental to the United States' economic prosperity. The world reveres the word of the United States due to our incredible economic power. WE have the economic ability to sbstanciate our claims......This time in the United States was a period of...
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...Americans live below the official poverty line ($21,954 a year for a family of four). Consumer spending per household fell by 2.8% in 2009, the first time it had fallen since the Bureau of Labour Statistics started gathering data in 1984. This is a challenge to the American dream. But it is also an opportunity for clever companies. Even the poorest Americans are rich by the standards of many other countries, so there is money to be made by serving them. McDonald's, for example, is booming. Since 2006 its restaurants have generated an annual increase in sales of 4%, despite rising food prices. (This figure excludes restaurants that have been open for less than a year.) In April the firm hired an astonishing 50,000 full- and part-time staff in America, at a time...
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...A big contribution to these new descriptions was the end of the war, with the economy booming and the majority of Americans having jobs. Because of this new found middle-class, the average American yearned for an affordable single family home of their own, and to meet this demand suburbs were created, with cookie-cutter houses for a very affordable price. These descriptions were also pushed onto the public by corporations, with identical dress codes become mandatory for many workers so everyone ended up looking the same. After the war, Americans were looking for a return to normalcy, and conformity was just that for them. They fit into a nation identity and were able to accomplish the American...
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