Blog Stage 8

I agree with Pooja Finavia’s commentary titled Texas needs a quality child care rating system. She did a decent job in providing examples of the type of things that have occurred in a child care and the reasons why it is important that Texas enacts a quality child care rating system for all licensed child cares. She also providing information on why it is important that children have quality child care. As well as the benefits a quality child care can have on a child, such as guiding children toward developing strong emotional bonds, social and emotional skill, and school readiness. Finavia also made a good point with the fact that a lot of parents do not know what to look for in a child care and with a quality child care rating system this could help parents make more informed decisions on their child care. Also, to hear that 48 other states have already implemented a quality child care rating system for all licensed child care facilities and Texas hasn’t is alarming and disappointing. It is time for Texas to step up and include all license child cares into a quality child care rating system.

Blog Stage #7 Texas Should Raise its Minimum Wage

I would like to take this opportunity to expand on my previous topic of Texas raising the minimum wage. As I mentioned in my previous commentary, Texas should raise its minimum wage. According to Talk Poverty as of 2015 Texas has a population of over 26 million with over 4.5 million of its population living in poverty. An increase in minimum wage would target the poorest families by removing millions of families out of poverty. Removing families out of poverty would reduce the cost of welfare programs. As well as decrease the number of families struggling to afford rent. A raise in wages is also beneficial to public health. Raising minimum wage will put more money into our local economy and a rise in the economy would affect not only the ones working at the current minimum wage but also those that are making above the minimum wage. Also, most minimum wage workers are women, so raising the minimum wage would raise the income for many women and this could help address and shorten the gap in gender equality. With all the reason listed above Texas could benefit from raising the minimum wage so it is time for Texas to address this issue.

Commentary of Texas and Marijuana

I agree with Alfredo Del La Cruz’s commentary titled Texas and Marijuana. He did a great job in pointing out that although there has not been much success in getting the Republican party to legalize any use of marijuana in Texas, there is now a bit of hope since a member of the Republican party has introduced a bill that decriminalizes low-volume possession of marijuana. I agree that although this is just one bill by the Republican party it is still a step in the direction of getting the Republican party in on a discussion of the potential benefits of legalizing marijuana.

Texas government has received many budget cuts due to the need to decrease spending and with the profit information provided in Alfredo's commentary, it is obvious that Texas has the opportunity to increase funding for programs within our state if our state legalized marijuana in some form. As for his comments on the legalization of marijuana helping to fix Texas's criminal reform the only point really made were that this would benefit the individual facing charges. I would add that legalization of marijuana would also benefit the state by decreasing the amount of money Texas has to spend on the proceedings of these types of cases. Alfredo also pointed out that marijuana has proven to be beneficial for many medical purposes such as the spread of cancer cells. This is an extremely important point to make because many American's have witnessed family, friends or maybe even themselves go through the suffering of these diseases so, in my opinion, this point alone justifies the need for our state to highly consider medical marijuana. 

Alfredo's commentary justified the need for Texas to consider legalizing marijuana in some form. These justifications were made by explaining the financial benefit to our state by increasing profit, the Texas residence's benefit by decreasing the burden for the procession of small amounts of marijuana, as well as the health benefit to Texas residence. 

Blog Stage 5 - Texas should Raise its Minimum Wage

Texas should raise its minimum wage. The last time Texas raised its minimum wage was in 2009; which was eight years ago. The year prior to the 2009 raise in minimum wage, the poverty level for a one-person household was $10,400 of annual income and the minimum wage was raised from $6.55 to $7.25. Since then the poverty level has risen to $11,770. That is a rise of more than one thousand dollars and still, Texas has not seen a change in its minimum wage. In data from http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/48, living expenses for a one-person household in Texas are $22,185 annually. That turns out to be an hourly salary of $10.66 to pay for typical expenses for yourself. Texas has the most minimum wage earners than any other State in the country. Many have argued that increasing the minimum wage kills jobs but this has been proven to not be true. According to an article titled Conservative Myths on Minimum Wage written by Duncan Hoise and published on Huffington Post in 2016 during the year of 2012, 10 states raised the minimum wage and from 2012 to 2015 those 10 states had no increase in unemployment. In fact, It was noted to do the opposite; ever one of those 10 states had a decrease in unemployment. In 2014 hundreds of economists signed a statement in supporting a minimum wage of $10.10. Research also suggest that a raise in minimum wage will cause a raising demand and job growth due to the low wage workers spending their additional earnings. An increase in minimum wage would also reduce worker turnover and ultimately remove thousands of families out of poverty.

Commentary Critique #2

In the online Corpus Christi Newspaper I found an interesting editorial titled ICE Surge gives Texas a belt-tightening Opportunity written on February 22, 2017 by the Editorial Board, Corpus Christi Callers-Time. This editorial points out that not only does the “immigration enforcement and border security surge… tear families apart, inflame prejudices and undermine Mexico relations and the economies of both countries” but it will also affect tax payers “that’s us” by raising taxes to pay for all the additional expenses that the increase in immigration enforcement and boarder security will bring.

As provided in the editorial some may try to argue that this immigration enforcement and boarder security surge launched by Trump administration will save Texas $1.8 billion by abondening the proposed billion dollar increase in state sponsored border security that was approved 2 years ago. In reality this is misleading due to the amount of money that will be spent to hire 10,000 to 15,000 more agents and detention centers to hold the millions of immigrants that the agents will be expected to round up and detain until they are deported. In addition to these additional expenses on tax payers "that's us" we'll most likely have to pay higher property taxes to cover the cost associated with Trump and Governor Greg Abbot's war on "sanctuary cities". The actions that Greg Abbot and Trump are requesting of cities to hold ICE detainees have already lead to lawsuits that will cost these cities legal fee which is another expense that will fall on tax payers in these cities. 

Ultimately sanctuary cities are trying to use their resources wisely, "recognize the constitutional rights of people not to be detained illegally", and obtain the trust in there community so that victims and witnesses of crimes are not discouraged in reporting them. Unfortunately this increased focus on immigration enforcement and border security will largely negatively effect Texas by directly increasing taxes on Texas tax payers, ruining Texas's reputation of a "low-tax state" and that just naming a few.  

"ICE Surge gives Texas a belt-tightening opportunity"

In the online Corpus Christi Newspaper I found an interesting editorial titled ICE Surge gives Texas a belt-tightening Opportunity written on February 22, 2017 by the Editorial Board, Corpus Christi Callers-Time. This editorial points out that not only does the “immigration enforcement and border security surge… tear families apart, inflame prejudices and undermine Mexico relations and the economies of both countries” but it will also affect tax payers “that’s us” by raising taxes to pay for all the additional expenses that the increase in immigration enforcement and boarder security will bring.

As provided in the editorial some may try to argue that this immigration enforcement and boarder security surge launched by Trump administration will save Texas $1.8 billion by abondening the proposed billion dollar increase in state sponsored border security that was approved 2 years ago. In reality this is misleading due to the amount of money that will be spent to hire 10,000 to 15,000 more agents and detention centers to hold the millions of immigrants that the agents will be expected to round up and detain until they are deported. In addition to these additional expenses on tax payers "that's us" we'll most likely have to pay higher property taxes to cover the cost associated with Trump and Governor Greg Abbot's war on "sanctuary cities". The actions that Greg Abbot and Trump are requesting of cities to hold ICE detainees have already lead to lawsuits that will cost these cities legal fee which is another expense that will fall on tax payers in these cities. 

Ultimately sanctuary cities are trying to use their resources wisely, "recognize the constitutional rights of people not to be detained illegally", and obtain the trust in there community so that victims and witnesses of crimes are not discouraged in reporting them. Unfortunately this increased focus on immigration enforcement and border security will largely negatively effect Texas by directly increasing taxes on Texas tax payers, ruining Texas's reputation of a "low-tax state" and that just naming a few.  

The controversy around "Sanctuary"

Hello everyone. When picking up my boys from their school bus stop yesterday they were accompanied by teachers handing out flyers titled “What to Do If ICE Comes to Your Door”, informing parents that it has been reported that ICE agents and border patrol are in Austin questioning people. I am not foreign born and neither are my children but even so this is extremely alarming. Every parent I know wants a great life for their children and a lot want their children to have a better life then what they had. For some people this means fleeing their country. Unfortunately for those people becoming legal residents of another country is not easy. With everything going on today I keep hearing the term sanctuary being used. Senate Bill 4 which focuses on drastically affecting funding for “sanctuary cities” recently passed the senate and is moving on to the House. Because of this I think its very important for Austin's residence to understand whats going on in our city. What does sanctuary really mean? Is Austin a “sanctuary city” and if so what is our city doing to follow through as a “sanctuary city”? I found an article titled “Sanctuary cities and the ways we fight for human rights” which helped me get a better understanding of where our city stands on these questions and all the controversy around it.