Author Archives: Abel Ramirez

As the hunger strike continues in Guantanamo Bay, different sources take different ways of portraying how president Obama is reacting to the issue of whether the prison should be shut down or not. Recent hunger strikes from the inmates have raised issues whether the US can force these prisoners to eat against their will.  while the New York times looks at the president’s decision to back off his initial want of wanting to close down the prison, and relates it to how the issues within the country side tracked him, BBC news focuses more on the international feel and looks at the issues the president faces without going into detail as to what those in the US are saying themselves, sort of giving the BBC a feel that they are simply delivering the news without trying to give insights as to what they think should be done. The independent however, goes about by giving details as to how the prison became so infamous and the issues with closing it, neither criticizing the president nor presuming how the country should go about the issue, it’ll be interesting to see how these different media sources go about publishing the developments after the president comes to a decision

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/president-obama-to-make-new-effort-to-close-guantanamo-bay-after-mass-hunger-strike-8596709.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22358351

Sources: Huffingtonpost, NY Times, NY Daily News

As the debate rages on between what should be the right way to approach the issues with minimum wage, the 2013-2014 budget for New York was passed with mixed reactions to the parts relating to minimum wage, Charlene Obernauer of the HuffingtonPost seems to be very critical of the budget and feels as if the measures passed was just a smokescreen that essentially left the most hard working New Yorkers out of any major benefit. The wage will increase annually for the next three years, but will try to leave tipped workers out of an increase as well as give businesses who hire teenagers a tax break. When you look at it back at the national level, arguments remain whether it should be raised at all or in the case of Christina D Romer of the NY Times we should analyze whether we should even have a minimum wage at all, rather than attack one side of the argument she looks at both sides. Yet overall, the fact that the New York proposal included a tax break for those who hire teenagers seems to be the one thing drawing rage and criticism across all spectrums, not only in the huffingtonpost but in the NY Daily News as well. It’ll be important to see how it develops in regards to the national minimum Wage

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlene-obernauer/new-york-minimum-wage_b_2924989.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/waging-war-economics-article-1.1303020

Sources: NY times, NY Daily News, In the Times, huffingtonpost

There has been a lot of controversy over what the minimum wage should be raised to or whether it should be raised at all. Some argue that if its raised the amount of money that will be redistributed to the lower wage class will not make much of a difference compared to the overall economy. Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage from 7.25 to 9  dollars has started a wave of arguments. While most labor unions and officials from advocacy groups on wages were surprised by Obama’s decision to finally address the issue, arguments are surfacing in regards to the actual amount that it should be raised to. Here in New York,  the Senate introduced a plan in the budget to raise the minimum wage. Once again though while the officials are calling it progress, the issue remains on what the raise should be. Some believe that the white house went with a modest number of 9 to perhaps make it more appealing to Republicans who are opposed to minimum wage raises because it hurts businesses and job growth. Either way, there seems to be general optimism that it will be raised and that negotiations will be able to raise the wage to an amount where everybody is comfortable.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nys-senate-calls-minimum-wage-hike-article-1.1285690

http://inthesetimes.com/article/14696/labor_and_allies_surprised_by_obamas_9_minimum_wage_proposal_scramble_to_co/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/obamas-minimum-wage-unions_n_2725460.html