Current+Event+3

Fuel to Burn: Now What?
====By [|JAD MOUAWAD] ====

Published: April 10, 2012
THE reversal of fortune in America’s energy supplies in recent years holds the promise of abundant and cheaper fuel, and it could have profound effects on what people drive, domestic manufacturing and America’s foreign policy. Cheaper fuel produced domestically could reduce the cost of shipping and manufacturing, trim heating and cooling bills, improve the auto market and provide tens of thousands of new jobs. It might also pose new environmental challenges, both predictable and unforeseen, by damping enthusiasm for clean forms of energy and derailing efforts to wean the nation from its wasteful energy habits. But for Americans battered by rising __ [|gasoline] __ prices, frustrated by the dependence on foreign oil, skeptical of the benefits or practicality of renewable fuels and afraid of nuclear power, the appeal of plentiful domestic oil and gas could far outweigh the costs.

This is exactly what we were talking about in class just not to long ago. People have no other choice but to either pay for roller coster gas prices or you can buy a 20k car in our tough economy. Well most would rather pay a hundred on gas a month then pay 300 a month for the price of a loan. When you think about the price of gas as a whole we all want it to go down. But what happens when it reaches the price is was a few years ago? We would all turn into savages and buy as much as we can and store it because obviously it will go back up. We would waste so much of our oil resource if it was not priced at its price. It allows us to realize that we must consume gas efficiently.

= Raising the Floor on Pay =

=
By [|STEVEN GREENHOUSE] ======

Published: April 9, 2012 As the nation’s economy slowly recovers and __ [|income inequality] __emerges as a crucial issue in the presidential campaign, lawmakers are facing growing pressure to raise the minimum wage, which was last increased at the federal level to $7.25 an hour in July 2009. State legislators in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and elsewhere are pushing to raise the minimum wage above the federal level in their own states, arguing that $7.25 an hour is too meager for anyone to live on. Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing for a big jump, with the Legislature’s joint committee on labor __ [|approving a measure last month] __ that would raise the minimum to $10 an hour, which would leapfrog Washington State, whose $9.04 minimum is the nation’s highest. Voters in Missouri may be asked to vote on a minimum wage referendum in November. These moves are giving momentum to an effort to persuade Congress to embrace a higher national minimum wage. Some liberal and labor groups, capitalizing on the energy and message of the Occupy Wall Street movement, are urging Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, to head a Congressional effort to raise the federal minimum to $9.80 an hour by 2014.

The American wages, especially those that are union oriented, have already caused many businesses to move out of country &/or other countries to be able to produce goods much cheaper. We already have trouble competing, what do you think this will do to the companies giving out jobs? Back out DUHH!! But on the other side we have the idea that minimum wage isn't enough for a single person let alone a family to survive on. But, if businesses prefer to pay as little as possible and to complain that no one is buying, keeping the minimum wage at less than poverty levels is the way to go. People won't be able to buy big ticket items like cars, houses, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. They won't take vacations. They won't fill prescriptions, go to the doctor or the dentist since many of those same jobs have lousy health insurance or none at all. They won't be able to give their children any of the extras the middle class on up gives to their children. And they won't be able to save for the future. In fact they won't have a future since the amount they make is so little that it won't allow them to advance themselves and all the things that might help them like jobs programs, are being cut.