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I found this reading actually really informative and surprising. I definitely still feel like a lot of this still applies to today's society. It is very eye opening to myself and I feel like to many to realize how much we take for granted everyday.

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In this article, Richard Ebeling makes a very good argument, not for how socialism is bad but how it cannot in essence hold itself together for an extended amount of time. Though the idea of socialism and a utopia society is sounds amazing it simply doesn't hold up in practice and quickly devolves into an oppressive system as shown by past examples.

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I was happy that I chose this article because I didn't know much about how poor Americas are until I red this article. It was very informative. The author did a good job explaining. It was not that hard to understand his points.

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This article will definitely be one of my favorite articles I enjoyed reading it. It pointed out some of the important information about the word  ''poor'' that I didn't know before I would recommend anyone to read it and get to learn more like I did.

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This was a really interesting article. I found that America's poor families are typically more well off than people in other countries. My family has always been considered poor so it was interesting to have our experiences validated by this article.

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The Pilgrim Story was a nice read. It wasn't over wordy or over complicated like a lot of reads have been before. I learned a lot that I didn't know, like the contract made between the adventurers and the Pilgrims. I also didn't know where the word "Pilgrim" actually came from! Overall, I liked learning more about the origin of Thanksgiving, and the MindMeister was pretty fun to make.

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I am glad I read this article, there was a lot of things in it that debunks what many of us had originally learned as children or even in movies about this story. While quickly looking through everyone's post to see what articles they read, I think I only saw one other person read this one. I think it is something that everyone could benefit reading, it is a short read that tells you about the real story of the pilgrims and tells you about a real life event on socialism.

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This was an interesting and eye opening article to read. I was at first shocked at the fact that 43% of all poor own their own homes. I mean, I don't even own my own home. Then I realized that this article was based off of 2005 census. In 2008 and 2009 we had the housing crisis, which was caused by lenders providing loans to people with no credit, no proof of income and very little money down. I would assume these statistics have changed dramatically. I would still agree that the poor are given enough food, shelter and clothing to keep them fairly comfortable. I really liked this quote "If child poverty is to be reduced, welfare must be transformed. Able-bodied parents must be required to work or prepare for work, and the welfare system should encourage rather than penalize marriage."

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After reading this article it was hard to feel bad for americas "poor" So many of us take for granted the everyday luxuries that people in other countries will never have the opportunity to experience. While some don not know if they will have clean water for the day we are concerned about owning the newest iPhone or driving the nicest car .

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This article discusses the worst-case-scenario when it comes to a total socialist state. The author uses leaders such as Hitler and Stalin for evidence of his claims. Of course, there is some accuracy as to the result of such a state, but, I think, a partially socialist state would be beneficial to our country. The article is written in economic terms which I'm not exactly familiar with, but the author states that it would be economic "planned chaos", which could be true in the case of a total socialist state, but a partially socialist state is not really discussed in this article. It seems more like a scare tactic than an informative article.

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Impossible by definition means something that is unable to occur, exist, or be done and by that definition this article was false. Socialism has been done before and is still struggling to happen in countries today. If I were to rename this article I would title it Why Socialism is Impossible to do successfully. Many of the authors points would also reinforce this new title. By the end of this article I had a very clear picture of what America would be like if we adopted this idea of socialism and lets just say, it was not pretty.

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I thought this article is definitely still relevant, however a lot of it just seemed really...how do I put this, judge? I don’t know. I worked with poor Americans while working at the homeless shelter. I guess I was just seeing the 30% that couldn’t pay their bills. I suppose I’m part of the 70%. Still a pretty good read.

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This was a very interesting article and even though it was talking about 2005, I still found it informative and relevant in a sense. It's very interesting to see the definition of poverty and how it has changed over the years. I think some of us think about poverty on a completely different level than others. I admit my idea of poverty was different than what I learned in this article, so this was definitely a learning point for me.

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I thought the article was very interesting. I personally think here in the states a lot of people are afraid to adapt to change. So when we read articles on socialism and communism, we immediately want to hate it. I don't think that true socialism can work for a country, but I think a mixture of socialism and capitalism can create equity in bigger countries.

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I enjoyed this article about the Pilgrim's and Socialism. It was interesting to hear the Pilgrim's story and see how Socialism did not work for them and understand why it would not work for America today.

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This was very interesting. I cannot remember what class it was in, but we watched a video about Cuba showing all the beautiful cars, people and buildings and then they went and showed people sitting in lines for gasoline for their cars they were pushing, and lines of people waiting for food and the run down almost war torn looking hotels and homes and streets lined with trash.

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This article was a very interesting dissection of the possible issues a socialist society. I do wonder though how economists in Socialized countries like Finland and Denmark would respond to this. I think this just goes to show that there is no perfect economic system. Everything is going to have issues to overcome, and I pinpointed some things I found interesting in my mindmeister.

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How Poor are Americas Poor? By Robert Rector

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How Poor are Americas Poor? By Robert Rector

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I thought this article was very interesting because the way we perceive poverty as a country is a whole lot different then the way other countries see poverty. I understand the actual poverty because when I was little I live in a small poor village in Mexico so the contrast to me is well noticed. I know that no matter how little I may have here in the United States it will never compare to not knowing if you were going to have food or even milk for the next day. Potable water was a luxury and in order to get drinking water we had to go a natural well that was down a rocky hill. This is why I appreciate all that I have and have accomplished here. This is why my father worked so hard for and I am not going to let him down.

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I enjoyed reading "Why Socialism is Impossible" because it had many valid points.  I agree that socialism would mark the end of all individualism, and it would stop people from working hard because they wouldn't get anything out of it.  This would make the government an all powerful entity, and that's against everything that America stands for.  Here is my mindmeister about the main ideas stated in the article and some sub topics.

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Why Socialism Is Impossible talks about why socialism will not be able to function properly in a society. The article provides some very interesting details into why it would not work. My chart will help you understand some of these things with questions to ask yourself and some quotes from the text. This article was very interesting and made me think about issues surrounding socialism that I had never thought of before. Socialism is a very interesting topic in the world we live in. Especially in the time when it seems like ideas of it come up in are government control. Overall, this article was very educational and helped me understand problems with socialism.

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This article gave an interesting point of view on poverty in America. This article informs you of how many poor people are in America, but then it tells you their living conditions. Most of the poor people in America are not living in the true definition of poverty. Most poor people in America have air conditioners, televisions, microwaves, dishwashers, stoves, and even several cars. Most of the 37 million do not fit the description of having an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter.

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This article gave a good point of view on how people view poverty versus what the government defines as poverty. It showed how the public views poverty as a severe lack of money and material objects whereas the reality is very different in that most people in poverty have things like televisions, phones, and cars. Poverty is less about what objects people own and more about how much expendable income they have after bills, groceries, and similar expenses. A lot of people in poverty have a stable place to live and things that most other people wouldn't think about not having like a refrigerator. There's also a lot of information on welfare and how it works against unmarried parents and single parent households.

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This article is really interesting because I am very interested in the idea of socialism personally, and am always interested in hearing other people opinions on it. While this article was mainly based on why it wouldnt work I can agree with some points especially with what the author had said that we would become a lazy culture, due to everything being similarly shared with one another, no one would have motivation. There would be no entrepreneurs or anything like that. This article was a great read honestly but I created my mindmeister about the main ideas of the article.

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The article is an analysis of the standard of living among America's classified "poor". Today's poor are better off now than they were decades ago. A majority of poor peoples own a variety of materialistic possessions that were unheard of only decades ago.Most poor people own a spacious house that outshines most European cities based on space. I personally thin this is an important highlight as European countries are sometimes seen as on par or better than U.S living standards. Nearly three-quarters of the poor own a car, in some cases two or more. As noted, America's poor are live in a state where they are not malnourished whereas other regions of the world are; suffering from hunger and stunted growth. In a way the author sheds light to the realities the poor actually live, which is a lot better of than the I or the general public thought of. Although the numbers are very positive, they still highlight room for improvement, we still have many poor peoples and we need to implement the solutions addressed in order to further help the poor.

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After reading this article, I learned that there are a lot of what’s classified in this article as poor American’s, but the definition of poor doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does. When most people think of poor, I feel like the image of someone who is basically homeless comes to mind. In my mind I would think of someone who is unable to properly feed or clothe themselves and can’t afford a place to live or barely affords it. In the article it says that “America's poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms”. This is not what I think in my head when I think of those who are poor. On the other hand, in the article it stated that people who are classified as poverty Americans were those who lack nutritious food, adequate or warm housing, and lack the ability of clothing a family. I feel like they have the terminology backwards. I also think that it depends on what you classify as poor. I know most American’s live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have any way of saving for an emergency, and most consider that as poor. They are basically just working to eat and pay bills and that’s it.

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This study follows the typical student's paper outline style to pass along information. The information given at the beginning helps give us a basis to dive in deeper later in the paper and then sums it up later at the end. The main points it glosses over are low levels of parental work, high numbers of single-parent families, and the fact that they are actually quite well off. It concludes us with a readying solution and call to arms:

Moreover, the United States can readily reduce its remaining poverty, especially among children. The main causes of child poverty in the United States are low levels of parental work, high numbers of single-parent families, and low skill levels of incoming immigrants. By increasing work and marriage, reducing illegal immigration, and by improving the skill level of future legal immigrants, our nation can, over time, virtually eliminate remaining child poverty.

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This article is about the living conditions of those living in America deemed "poor" by the US Census Bureau. Their contemporary poverty is contrasted to the poverty of those living poor in decades past. The data presented is compared with the public opinion of what it means to be "poor" in that the majority of the people who live in poverty in the US live much better lives than the public tends to think. In addition, we are explained that the most prevalent problems that cause poverty are the illegal immigrants coming into the US and the welfare systems in place that keep the poor demotivated to change. The main reasons for child poverty are also laid out as fatherlessness and low motivation to work. What I can appreciate about the article is that they don't only take a look at the reasons why the poor aren't actually as poor as we think, but they also show how the marginalized cases fit into the whole picture as well.

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When reading this article I learned that there are a lot of poor Americans, but that this does not mean that they are suffering as much as you might think. In the article it says that “America's poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms”. This is not what I think in my head when I think of those who are poor. I learned that those who are classified as poor still own many different things, and often have tv’s and rarely experience food shortages, and usually only for short periods of time. Now when it comes to poverty Americans where asked what they think of when they think of poverty and those answers were more what I was thinking when I first heard poor. It is those people who lack nutritious food, adequate and warm housing, and lack of clothing for a family. I do not know that I necessarily agree with this article, I think that it depends on what you classify as poor. I do not think that owing a three bedroom house is something that a poor person has, but according to this article it is. I think that being tight for money and being poor are different.

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The article I read was about poor Americans in the United States. When you classify a poor American in the U.S you find out that they really do not seem all that poor. It talked about how poor Americans still have a home with air conditioning and a refrigerator and are not undernourished at all. When you compare America's poor with other countries poor, it is a huge difference I think. I learned a lot from this article with all the percentages of people and the facts. I chose 6 main things I learned and I also found them the most interesting.

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"How poor are America's Poor"
This article was very interesting to me and points out that most are poor live comfortably. Considering they own their own home outright, it seems they are better off than some people who make more money but are struggling with debt. In this article he points out the poor own a their own car, home, tv, cell phone. I was surprised when he said the poor children eat more meat than higher incomes. Is this due to fresh vegetables are more expensive? Meat is expensive too, maybe the quality of meat (high fat content burgers vs salmon burger). Also he stated poverty was due to single income households, should we look into education programs to help single parents find better jobs? Or promote education programs for healthy marriages and relationship and healthy eating on a tight budget? since he mentions 'welfare has done little or nothing to strengthen marriage in low income communities"
I like how he broke everything down in this article and really analyzed what the poor have and what are their struggles. He was helping us see the truth with the poor and not a stereotype we may have had previously.

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In Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance", he further develops the idea of individualism and encourages his readers to come up with their own philosophies and ideas and to not conform to society's beliefs. I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that each person should develop their own thought process. This philosophy would bring about new ideas and more efficient ways of thinking which would, in theory, spur on the development of society. But at the same time I do not agree with the way individualism will affect people. If people were to follow individualism, would that not also be another form of conforming with the norms of society? This idea is intriguing because its highly paradoxical. He is essentially saying do not conform to society but conform to this instead which I find hypocritical.