In “Our family units are shrinking too fast,” The Irish Times (2007) writes that the birth rate in Italy is lower than the average of the world. Now the Italian government is facing the problems that the population in the country is not balanced; in other words, Italy now has too many in the old generation but very few newborn children. The statistic shows that Italy will lose 25 percent of its natural population by 2060, which means Italy will not keep their country with its abundance of labor force. It will become a serious problem in Italy. As we know, the three main elements to support one country are politics, economy, and military affairs. However, these three elements are all based on the foundation of “people.” If there is one country which has few citizens, it will be difficult for the country to maintain the supremacy of their citizens. From the beginning of the problem, the Italian government should realize why most Italian women are reluctant to give births. Via the reasons of why the women do not want to get pregnant, the Italian government will be more likely to understand and find the solution for population problems. Recently, there is one town in Italy that, in order to encourage the female residents to have the children, they will provide huge amount of money for the children (The Irish Time, 2007).
In “Say Goodbye to Europe” Freund, M. states, “Italy’s population could shrink by one-third by the middle of the century” (2007, p. 15). In this article, the author tells us that there are more and more couples because of economic and family reasons that do not want to have children. According to this, most of the newborn children in the European countries are not the same races as the rest of the country. This could lead to another population crisis in Italy, which means it will be hard to maintain the original culture and customs. Besides, Italy has its own special problem between south and north. From the article, “Ever older, south ever poorer” (2007), the author also mentioned that inter-migration in Italy makes the poverty gap bigger. The Northern part of Italy is closer to the European continent. The closer to the European continent, the more job opportunities the people may get.
First, government should improve the situation of low birth rate. According to “Our family units are shrinking too fast” (2007, p. 15), the number of the birth rate in Italy is 1.33 children per women in one family. A country needs 2.1 children per woman to ensure the population numbers remain steady. In this situation, they should provide the following ways to help the situation be solved. They should realize the reason the women do not want to have babies. For instance, the economy might influence the women when they have babies, they will need time to take care of the children and buy many new things for the newcomers. If the women want to keep working, they will need to hire the nannies. They will spend the extra money to hire one nanny or mothers shall quit their jobs to look after their children. To illustrate, to raise a kid until he is eighteen, the parents should spend at least 5 million US dollars. It could be a huge amount for a middle-class family. The couple may think that they will prefer not to have any kids and save money to raising kids. Besides, the improvement of medical skills makes women stay safe to have the abortion. It is the indirect way to encourage women not to have baby if they do not. The result is that to have an abortion becomes common in Italy. It makes women there have more chances to choose whether they are going to have children or not. Nevertheless, the government used to educate the people to have the birth control in Italy. The Italian women could take the birth control pills if they want. All they had to do, was to go to see the doctors and ask for the prescription then every woman could go to the pharmacy and get the birth control pills. It is a good policy to protect women’s right; however, it could be also a reason Italy has a low birth rate. Now, the government should educate people and encourage people to have more kids. The government should provide new policies such as welfare for the pregnant women.
The government should reform the pension system in order to help the aging generation. Since Italy is the greyest country in the whole European Union, the government should help the most of the population, the aging people, in Italy. There are more advantages to prolonging the working years. In the article, “Row brewing over pension reform” (2007), the author mentioned that the Italian government would save about 13 billion Euros per year if the retirement age was prolonged from 57 to 60. In other words, most of the old people are healthy enough to keep working even when they are 60. Actually, the average for the aging Italian is 78.3 for men and 84 for women (D’emilio, 2007). If people could retire later, it would truly help the government save money. The more workers work, the more pension they would probably get when they are retired. “There are still too many people today living on insufficient pensions” (D’emilio, 2007). As a result, letting people work longer, and save much money at the bank account will help the old people not to live on with the insufficient pensions.
The Italian government should teach other immigrants to make them become new Italian. The immigrants are the main source to maintain their population; however, it’s not appropriate for a country to maintain their original race and culture. Here is the problem; more and more different races in Italy will become “real Italians.’ The Italians are afraid that they cannot preserve the pure and real Italian culture after a century. It is possible that many kids who are from the intercultural families may not get good grades at school because one of their parents may not speak or write in Italian. One solution is that, the government should encourage Italians to have intercultural relationships with the immigrants. For instance, the government could set up a school for those immigrants who cannot read or write in Italian, trying to assimilate the two different cultures into one Italian culture. Moreover, every Italian should be open-minded. Even though people are different colors; they could all be new Italians. There is a town in Italy that offers couples EUR 10,000 for each newborn baby. They are going to raise their birth rate through this beneficial policy (The Irish Time, 2007).
Via population problems, the economy may be in crisis, in which Italians should support their country. As I mentioned before, there are three main elements to support the country which are politics, economy and military. Three things are all supported from the citizens. In other words, if there is one country with territory and sovereignty but without any citizens, then, we would not call it a country. Every country needs many laborers to support one’s country’s economy. If the country has many workers, they are more likely to lower the price of the products. Because of the cheap human resources, the company can save the actual cost from the low pay of their laborers. Besides, people would be happier and more willing to go to work if their salary is enough for their living. In contrast, the low population may lead the company out of workers; all they could do is find the workers from other countries or they will set their factories in other countries. It will not only reduce the working opportunities to Italian people, but also push the company to put their funds in other areas. All in all, it will lead the Italian economy into depression. The best way to solve the economic problem is to encourage people to have more children and prolong the retirement ages.
In conclusion, Italian people are having fewer children than before; they are going to face a population crisis which includes lack of labor, losing the culture and the old generation is leading a poor life after retirement. Having more and more of the aging generation and fewer and fewer children is the most serious population issue in Italy. They will not have enough people to support the whole country until they have abundant people. The Italian government should legislate the new policies to encourage and protect women having more children and reform the pension system in order to assure that the old generation will have sufficient money for the rest of their lives.
References
D’emilio, F. (2007, July 7). Italy’s Aged Turn to Foreigners for Care. Associated Press. Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Ever older, south ever poorer. Agence France Presse (2007, May 24). Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Freund, M. (2007, January 14). Say Goodbye to Europe. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Our Family Units are Shrinking Too Fast. (2007, February 1). The Irish Times. Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Row Brewing Over Pension Reform. (2007, May 9). ANSA. Retrieved on July 15, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Population Makes Italy Into Economy Crisis
In the Agence France Presse article “Ever Older, South Ever Poorer,” the author criticizes Italy’s population as too low; it’s also the point that makes the income gap between south and north wider. According to the article, the percentage of old people has become higher and higher. Younger people become lazier and they drop out of schools easily. They do not get jobs because the elders are still able to work. Lacking job opportunities, what people could do is to emigrate to the north looking for more chances to get better works. Besides the aging problems, female labor force is also a big issue for Italy. Although the female labor force has grown rapidly from 2000 to 2005, compared to the other European countries, the statistic is still way below the average. I agree with what the author said from the article that Italy is the greyest country in Europe. And it truly has a big problem toward their population. Hence, the population situation leads Italy to an economic crisis.
This article is valid because the problem of Italian population truly influences the Italian economy, from the health care to their aging people, policies toward other immigrants and unemployment for females and young laborers. All these things influence the economy in Italy. The most important thing is how could Italian government solve these problems.
First, government should also help the needy old people in the country. Since Italy is the greyest country in the Europe Union, the Italian government needs to put more effort into taking care of the old generation. From the article I have read, it talks about the pension problem of the old generation. Because these old people live longer than we expected, they are probably going to earn much money to keep their own living. As a result, government should improve the retirement system. For instance, they should set up new laws for the old people that they are available to work more than twenty five to thirty years. In order to save enough money for the rest of their lives, it is important to prolong the time of working years. In other words, to set up the new law for the major public, the old generation is the first important thing in Italy. The policy will help and improve the aging population and it could also solve the economic problem. If there is more and more labor force in one’s country, that means more people could help the country work. In fact, the less unemployment the wealthier the country should be.
Next, it will be better to have a policy about having more children that the females will get a perfect and well-organized program which will give the women money when they are willing to have children. The immigration in Italy seriously affects the racial problem, because there are many immigrants who are from different cultures and different races. They might bring their own culture to an Italian town. Southern Italy used to be the poorest place in this country. Nevertheless, the decline of the birth rate makes those small towns dying. Government should have more policies to encourage the people in southern Italy to have more chances to work. This action would help the Italian government work against the huge amount of immigrants’ population.
Finally, the number in the labor force of females and the young are lower than the average of other European countries. On one hand, many females are reluctant to have a baby because they are afraid of losing their job during the time they are pregnant and giving birth. Moreover, having a baby will take women much time taking care of the infants. They need to hire a nanny or a babysitter when they do not have time to look after the child. It not only takes their time but also costs them money to have children. All of these problems lead the women in Italy to have a low birth rate. On the other hand, because the old generation is still able to work in this country, they have gotten most of the working opportunities. As a result, in the poorest area of Italy, the southern part, the government could develop more industry areas for the young group.
To sum up, the population problem affects Italy and cause economic crisis. Solving the aging generation retirement problem could enhance their society. Government policies which encourage females to have more children will fight against the immigrant group. It could help Italy to preserve their own culture. Female labor could also make the Italian economy have a big improvement if the Government provides better policies.
Reference:
Agence France Presse (2007, May 24) Ever older, south ever poorer. Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
This article is valid because the problem of Italian population truly influences the Italian economy, from the health care to their aging people, policies toward other immigrants and unemployment for females and young laborers. All these things influence the economy in Italy. The most important thing is how could Italian government solve these problems.
First, government should also help the needy old people in the country. Since Italy is the greyest country in the Europe Union, the Italian government needs to put more effort into taking care of the old generation. From the article I have read, it talks about the pension problem of the old generation. Because these old people live longer than we expected, they are probably going to earn much money to keep their own living. As a result, government should improve the retirement system. For instance, they should set up new laws for the old people that they are available to work more than twenty five to thirty years. In order to save enough money for the rest of their lives, it is important to prolong the time of working years. In other words, to set up the new law for the major public, the old generation is the first important thing in Italy. The policy will help and improve the aging population and it could also solve the economic problem. If there is more and more labor force in one’s country, that means more people could help the country work. In fact, the less unemployment the wealthier the country should be.
Next, it will be better to have a policy about having more children that the females will get a perfect and well-organized program which will give the women money when they are willing to have children. The immigration in Italy seriously affects the racial problem, because there are many immigrants who are from different cultures and different races. They might bring their own culture to an Italian town. Southern Italy used to be the poorest place in this country. Nevertheless, the decline of the birth rate makes those small towns dying. Government should have more policies to encourage the people in southern Italy to have more chances to work. This action would help the Italian government work against the huge amount of immigrants’ population.
Finally, the number in the labor force of females and the young are lower than the average of other European countries. On one hand, many females are reluctant to have a baby because they are afraid of losing their job during the time they are pregnant and giving birth. Moreover, having a baby will take women much time taking care of the infants. They need to hire a nanny or a babysitter when they do not have time to look after the child. It not only takes their time but also costs them money to have children. All of these problems lead the women in Italy to have a low birth rate. On the other hand, because the old generation is still able to work in this country, they have gotten most of the working opportunities. As a result, in the poorest area of Italy, the southern part, the government could develop more industry areas for the young group.
To sum up, the population problem affects Italy and cause economic crisis. Solving the aging generation retirement problem could enhance their society. Government policies which encourage females to have more children will fight against the immigrant group. It could help Italy to preserve their own culture. Female labor could also make the Italian economy have a big improvement if the Government provides better policies.
Reference:
Agence France Presse (2007, May 24) Ever older, south ever poorer. Retrieved on July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Italian Population Crisis
In the Irish Times article “Our Family Units Are Shrinking Too Fast,” the author criticizes the birth rate in developed countries, especially the Europe Union countries as being too low to make their countries’ population grow. A low birth rate and aging people make nearly zero economic growth in Italy. According to the article, the birth rate for the population number to remain steady is 2.1 children per woman; however, the birth rate of Italy is 1.33 in 2006. It is below the average of the world. For this reason, we could predict that people in Italy and Europe will lose about 25 percentage of population by 2060. In my opinion, people in the developed countries all have this crisis, but Italy is almost the worst country with this population problem in the world. Hence, the most important thing for whole European countries is solving their population crisis.
Government should find out the solution for their aging society and low birth rate problems. Because of the population problems, their economy is serious influenced. To keep their own Italian culture, there are many things that the government should work it out. Since Italy is the greyest country in the EU, the numbers of the old generation are more than the young generation. Besides, it seems like more and more immigrants are moving to Italy and Italians are afraid that those immigrants will replace their people and culture.
First, government should raise the official age of retirement. In other words, because of the good social welfare, the old generation can live longer and keep healthy longer than before. As a result, if the old people retire in their early fifties that means they still need to keep learning and make ends meet for the rest of twenty or even thirty years. People usually start to work in their mid-twenties or thirties. It is hard for everyone to earn a huge amount of pension to keep their own living. For instance, the old generation could work longer than we expected. They should prolong the official age of retirement, making the old generation be the labor force until they are sixty. It will help Italy have more labor force and having more labor force will improve their economy.
Second, the immigrants are the main source to maintain their population; however, it’s not appropriate for a country to maintain their original race and culture. The Italian people would not have more than one child in a family. On the contrary, the immigrants from other cultures would like to have more children to maintain their races. Here is the problem; more and more different races in Italy will become “real Italians.’ The Italians are afraid that they cannot preserve the pure and real Italian culture after a century. One solution is that, the government should encourage Italians to have the inter-culture with the immigrants. They should try to assimilate the two different cultures into one Italian culture. According to the article, there is a town in Italy that offers couples EUR 10,000 for each newborn baby. They are going to raise their birth rate through this beneficial policy. Via women need to work just as their husband does; it will cost them much time to stay at home and prepare the things for their newcomers if they are pregnant. This is the reason they do not want to have children.
Third, they should welcome the Italians to come back to Italy from all over the world. There are many Italians all around the world. If the government encourages them to come back to the country and provides them many beneficial ways, it will help Italy the country to control their number of citizens. The government should suggest other emigrants come back to their motherland. To illustrate, they should help them find a better job than before. They should provide them generous welfare. Also, the government could ask them to work for the country. I think via this policy the Italy government could have more “real Italian” in their country and it will be much easier to preserve their culture.
As the greyest country in Europe, the Italian government really should find the solution toward their population problems. They should prolong the working years for their citizens, and help them find more intercultural marriages. They should try to maintain their population but not lose their own culture. They should have a good policy of welcoming the emigrants back to Italy. Through these ways, it will help Italy to defend against a their low birth rate and aging generation problems.
References
Our Family Units are Shrinking Too Fast. (2007, February 1). The Irish Times Retrieved July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Government should find out the solution for their aging society and low birth rate problems. Because of the population problems, their economy is serious influenced. To keep their own Italian culture, there are many things that the government should work it out. Since Italy is the greyest country in the EU, the numbers of the old generation are more than the young generation. Besides, it seems like more and more immigrants are moving to Italy and Italians are afraid that those immigrants will replace their people and culture.
First, government should raise the official age of retirement. In other words, because of the good social welfare, the old generation can live longer and keep healthy longer than before. As a result, if the old people retire in their early fifties that means they still need to keep learning and make ends meet for the rest of twenty or even thirty years. People usually start to work in their mid-twenties or thirties. It is hard for everyone to earn a huge amount of pension to keep their own living. For instance, the old generation could work longer than we expected. They should prolong the official age of retirement, making the old generation be the labor force until they are sixty. It will help Italy have more labor force and having more labor force will improve their economy.
Second, the immigrants are the main source to maintain their population; however, it’s not appropriate for a country to maintain their original race and culture. The Italian people would not have more than one child in a family. On the contrary, the immigrants from other cultures would like to have more children to maintain their races. Here is the problem; more and more different races in Italy will become “real Italians.’ The Italians are afraid that they cannot preserve the pure and real Italian culture after a century. One solution is that, the government should encourage Italians to have the inter-culture with the immigrants. They should try to assimilate the two different cultures into one Italian culture. According to the article, there is a town in Italy that offers couples EUR 10,000 for each newborn baby. They are going to raise their birth rate through this beneficial policy. Via women need to work just as their husband does; it will cost them much time to stay at home and prepare the things for their newcomers if they are pregnant. This is the reason they do not want to have children.
Third, they should welcome the Italians to come back to Italy from all over the world. There are many Italians all around the world. If the government encourages them to come back to the country and provides them many beneficial ways, it will help Italy the country to control their number of citizens. The government should suggest other emigrants come back to their motherland. To illustrate, they should help them find a better job than before. They should provide them generous welfare. Also, the government could ask them to work for the country. I think via this policy the Italy government could have more “real Italian” in their country and it will be much easier to preserve their culture.
As the greyest country in Europe, the Italian government really should find the solution toward their population problems. They should prolong the working years for their citizens, and help them find more intercultural marriages. They should try to maintain their population but not lose their own culture. They should have a good policy of welcoming the emigrants back to Italy. Through these ways, it will help Italy to defend against a their low birth rate and aging generation problems.
References
Our Family Units are Shrinking Too Fast. (2007, February 1). The Irish Times Retrieved July 10, 2007 from LexisNexis.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Best Environment for Children
Where do you think is the best environment for children to grow up? Everybody knows how important the environment is in influencing one's characteristics and behaviors. There is a famous saying in China that "Human being is like a slice of shirt; you can dye it into many colors whatever you like." I truly believe that human beings also are in their teen ages are clean and pure in their minds. The sentence has implied that human beings are easily influenced by others. Because of this, we should choose a correct place to live which not only for our own but the next generation. In my opinion, the best environment for children is in Victoria, Canada. Parents should have a liberal way to educate their children. Children who are in this kind of family will be provided them the best chance to grow up.
Victoria is a town with a harbor, which is near Vancouver, one of the big cities in Canada is the best environment for children to grow up in. We could also consider it as a separate town and village in another way. Nature has been the best teacher in the world. The best way for children to gain their knowledge is from our nature, instead of TV programs or Wikipedia. Living in the countryside provides the variety of opportunities to contact nature naturally. Children will have their questions and find the solutions from nature, the mentor of everyone. Also, the harbor receives the latest information, compared to the other towns and villages. In addition, Victoria is near Vancouver, so children won't narrow down their visions by living in the small town. They will also get the chance to go to the city and learn other kinds of knowledge which tend to be more civilized.
Compared to other cultures, Canada is more open minded to accept other races and cultures. It will help children to learn others' culture and build up their own social identity at the same time. We've heard the word "globalization " all the time recently. To let kids realize and understand the different culture is just as important as teaching them twenty-six letters of the alphabet in English. Being in the country which has many kinds of races, they are more likely to accept them since they were in their childhood. Seeing is believing. It will be good to see other religions, holidays and customs. No one can doubt that how much the environment can influence one, especially in his early age. Observing the information and gaining the knowledge are the foundations of having better characteristics.
A Liberal family which has two to three kids will be best for children to grow up in. In my opinion, parents have the responsibility to educate their own children in their own way. However, a liberal family will make their children grow up happily. Parents should not limit children's thought and behavior in their own way. What they think may not be correct at all times. Children could select what they would like to learn and enjoy besides the general studying. I can't agree with people who only want to have one child, not only because of the decrease of the birth rate, but also because their child needs someone to be with to accompany. The lecture from teachers or parents will never replace wisdom gained from siblings and peers.
Some people may argue that parents should have the domination toward their own family; however, apparently it's not appropriate to control one's mind and behaviors because they are older. Children should learn how do they discipline their behaviors. Parents and the other elders could give them the suggestion, which it might be useful because they are more experienced than the younger. But, time changes. The old rules could be the best answer; however, it's not right to deny other options that could lead them to the correct way. Although things will be more complicated and hard, this is what they choose and they deserve to suffer or enjoy their own lives.
For these reasons, Victoria, Canada, is the best environment for children to grow up in. The town with a harbor and near the city gives children the opportunities to get close to our natural environment and understand modernization in both ways. Canada is one of the best countries that provides many cultures that children could become aware of. A liberal family will let children grow up happily. There is nothing more important than having happy lives in their childhood memories. All in all, Victoria Canada is the best environment for children to grow up in.
by Ellen
EAP2 WWB
07/10/07
Victoria is a town with a harbor, which is near Vancouver, one of the big cities in Canada is the best environment for children to grow up in. We could also consider it as a separate town and village in another way. Nature has been the best teacher in the world. The best way for children to gain their knowledge is from our nature, instead of TV programs or Wikipedia. Living in the countryside provides the variety of opportunities to contact nature naturally. Children will have their questions and find the solutions from nature, the mentor of everyone. Also, the harbor receives the latest information, compared to the other towns and villages. In addition, Victoria is near Vancouver, so children won't narrow down their visions by living in the small town. They will also get the chance to go to the city and learn other kinds of knowledge which tend to be more civilized.
Compared to other cultures, Canada is more open minded to accept other races and cultures. It will help children to learn others' culture and build up their own social identity at the same time. We've heard the word "globalization " all the time recently. To let kids realize and understand the different culture is just as important as teaching them twenty-six letters of the alphabet in English. Being in the country which has many kinds of races, they are more likely to accept them since they were in their childhood. Seeing is believing. It will be good to see other religions, holidays and customs. No one can doubt that how much the environment can influence one, especially in his early age. Observing the information and gaining the knowledge are the foundations of having better characteristics.
A Liberal family which has two to three kids will be best for children to grow up in. In my opinion, parents have the responsibility to educate their own children in their own way. However, a liberal family will make their children grow up happily. Parents should not limit children's thought and behavior in their own way. What they think may not be correct at all times. Children could select what they would like to learn and enjoy besides the general studying. I can't agree with people who only want to have one child, not only because of the decrease of the birth rate, but also because their child needs someone to be with to accompany. The lecture from teachers or parents will never replace wisdom gained from siblings and peers.
Some people may argue that parents should have the domination toward their own family; however, apparently it's not appropriate to control one's mind and behaviors because they are older. Children should learn how do they discipline their behaviors. Parents and the other elders could give them the suggestion, which it might be useful because they are more experienced than the younger. But, time changes. The old rules could be the best answer; however, it's not right to deny other options that could lead them to the correct way. Although things will be more complicated and hard, this is what they choose and they deserve to suffer or enjoy their own lives.
For these reasons, Victoria, Canada, is the best environment for children to grow up in. The town with a harbor and near the city gives children the opportunities to get close to our natural environment and understand modernization in both ways. Canada is one of the best countries that provides many cultures that children could become aware of. A liberal family will let children grow up happily. There is nothing more important than having happy lives in their childhood memories. All in all, Victoria Canada is the best environment for children to grow up in.
by Ellen
EAP2 WWB
07/10/07
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