AGENDA Mon 3/21. Stock Updates & Printout #2 Due. Unemployment HW: pg 228 #1-6; pg 359 #1-5. QOD #25: Social Issues of Unemployment

Transcription

1 AGENDA Mon 3/21 Stock Updates & Printout #2 Due QOD #25: Social Issues of Unemployment Unemployment HW: pg 228 #1-6; pg 359 #1-5 Stock Watch: Printout #3 DUE: Mon 4/11 EC #2 DUE 4/14 & 15

2 QOD #25: Social Issues of Unemployment Listen and follow along with the lyrics of the two songs, Johnny 99 and Worried Man. Write down the depictions of the social aspects of unemployment from the songs.

3 Johnny Cash has been one of popular music s most enduring figures. Born in the 1930s, his roots and early years were spent in the Arkansas Delta just west of Memphis. His apprenticeship as a musical performer began during a European tour of duty in the Air Force after World War II where he played with fellow airmen in a band called the Barbarians. After his return from service, he was married to Vivian Liberto with whom four children were born.

4 It was during this time that Cash s first recordings were made. Hey Porter and Cry, Cry, Cry began his ascension to greatness within the worlds of both country and rock and roll music. Such well-known songs as Folsom Prison Blues, A Boy Named Sue, Ring of Fire, and his wide acceptance in society within both the spiritual community and the young, progressive and rebellious teens of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are reason he was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992).

5 Bruce Springsteen began playing music in his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, because he wanted to fit in. He joined his first band, the Castiles, in 1965 and released his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ in When his Born to Run album was issued in 1975, Springsteen was quickly hailed as the new Dylan and the future of rock and roll, and he was featured simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek on October 27, 1975.

6 By the early 1980s, Springsteen was being called the greatest performer in rock and roll because of his highenergy marathon concerts and his appeal became so widespread that it began to transcend generations and the world of rock and roll. For example, during the 1984 Presidential election, both Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan sought to identify themselves with The Boss and his immensely popular, anthem-like song of that year, Born in the U.S.A. The album of the same title went to Number One and spawned seven top ten singles. The 1990s witnessed Springsteen s break from his longtime support musicians, The E Street Band, and his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad was followed by his first-ever acoustic tour.

7 Despite his popular and financial successes, Bruce Springsteen has always remained concerned with and connected to his small town, working-class roots. Indeed, the blue-collar troubadour has performed benefit concerts for and/or donated large sums of money to such diverse organizations as the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers (Local of Freehold), USA for Africa, Vietnam Veterans of America, and numerous food banks across the United States such as the Steelworkers-Old Timers Food Bank in Los Angeles. Much of his music focuses on various social and economic problems. Bruce Springsteen was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

8 Unemployment in Rock & Roll Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison in The Deindustrialization of American (1982) found that every one percent increase in the U.S. unemployment rate was associated with 920 more suicides 650 more homicides 500 more deaths from heart and kidney disease and cirrhosis of the liver 4000 additional admissions to mental hospitals 3300 additional incarcerations in state prisons. Johnny 99 Worried Man

9 Both songs begin with a man becoming unemployed. In Johnny 99, the auto plant shuts down entirely, which was probably because of the bad economy (recession) in New Jersey and the United States during the early 1980s when this song was written. Therefore, Ralph was quite likely cyclically unemployed. On the other hand, the Worried Man could well have been structurally unemployed since the place where he worked implicitly remained in operation but just didn t need him any more.

10 Both songs deal with the crushing consequences of unemployment. The Worried Man realizes that he can buy neither the shoes nor food that his children need because of his unemployment. In addition, he knows he doesn t own a money tree, which could mean accumulated savings, or any land, which probably is being used broadly to include real property as well as other financial assets which could be sold for cash.

11 Worried Man includes a more extensive discussion of the human costs of unemployment. Because Ralph couldn t find a job, he got drunk and committed a homicide, for which he was sentenced to ninety-nine years in jail. In his statement before the judge, Johnny explains that his crime was the direct result of the debts which he couldn t pay because he was unemployed. In particular, the bank was foreclosing on his mortgage. His final and ultimate desperation is evidenced from his plea for execution rather than spending ninety-nine years in prison.

12 The Unemployment Rate Feb 2010 unemployment rate = 9.7% Feb 2011 unemployment rate = 8.9% Feb 2012 unemployment rate = 8.3% California s rate for Dec 2009 = 12.3% California s rate for Jan 2011 = 12.4% California s rate for Feb 2012 = 10.9% If the number of persons unemployed is 5 million and the labor force is 100 million, then the unemployment rate is 5%. Unemployment rate will never drop to 0%. Some people will always be unemployed in the United States. Unemployment rate = Unemployed persons civilian labor force

13

14 references Arnold, R (2001). Economics in our times, 2nd edition. Chicago, IL: National Textbook Company