Renwei Diversity

10 Poverty Myths, Busted

No, single moms aren’t the problem. And neither are absentee dads.

—Erika Eichelberger | March/April 2014 Issue

1. Single moms are the problem. Only 9 percent of low-income, urban moms have been single throughout their child’s first five years. Thirty-five percent were married to, or in a relationship with, the child’s father for that entire time.*

2. Absent dads are the problem. Sixty percent of low-income dads see at least one of their children daily. Another 16 percent see their children weekly.*

3. Black dads are the problem. Among men who don’t live with their children, black fathers are more likely than white or Hispanic dads to have a daily presence in their kids’ lives.

4. Poor people are lazy. In 2004, there was at least one adult with a job in 60 percent of families on food stamps that had both kids and a nondisabled, working-age adult.

5. If you’re not officially poor, you’re doing okay. The federal poverty line for a family of two parents and two children in 2012 was $23,283. Basic needs cost at least twice that in 615 of America’s cities and regions.

6. Go to college, get out of poverty. In 2012, about 1.1 million people who made less than $25,000 a year, worked full time, and were heads of household had a bachelor’s degree.**

7. We’re winning the war on poverty. The number of households with children living on less than $2 a day per person has grown 160 percent since 1996, to 1.65 million families in 2011.

8. The days of old ladies eating cat food are over. The share of elderly single women living in extreme poverty jumped 31 percent from 2011 to 2012.

9. The homeless are drunk street people. One in 45 kids in the United States experiences homelessness each year. In New York City alone, 22,000 children are homeless.

10. Handouts are bankrupting us. In 2012, total welfare funding was 0.47 percent of the federal budget.

*Source: Analysis by Dr. Laura Tach at Cornell University.

**Source: Census

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/10-poverty-myths-busted

Renwei Uncategorized

‘The Gilded Age of Biglaw’: Biglaw Culture Breeds Big Bonuses, But Little Diversity

“To whom much is given, much is tested / Get arrested, guess until he get the message” –Kanye West

upset asian lawyer

In his 1936 DNC Renomination Speech, Franklin Delano Roosevelt pronounced, “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”  From the Great Depression to World War II; from The Great Gatsby to Pearl Harbor; from the Silent Generation to the Baby Boomers; and from Generation X to the Millennials, it is damn near impossible to comprehend everything FDR’s generation has been through and witnessed. It is no wonder why Tom Brokaw named FDR’s contemporaries as the “Greatest Generation.”

There is much progress to be made in our society to be sure, but over the last 100 years we have endured so much, learned so much, and have evolved into a much more civil society. Growing up, I remember my dad was always watching Peter Jennings.

Read more on AbovetheLaw.com

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‘Ball Don’t Lie’ – What Percentage Of Biglaw Partners Are White?

“You might think you’ve peeped the scene/ You haven’t, the real one’s far too mean/ The watered down one, the one you know/ Was made up centuries ago.”   – N. Minaj, K. West

white male white man businessman partner old

In 2009 Bill Simmons, ESPN columnistand Grantland.com founder, began the popular “30 for 30” documentary series. Simmons wanted feature-filmmakers to recount intimate sports stories, people, and events that were compelling to them, but had not been fully explored by society. Each 30 for 30 show is promoted by asking the question, “What if I told you…” Consider this my “30 for 30″ literary column. [Dramatic pause] “What if I told you 92% of all Biglaw partners are white?” [Intro music, “All of the Lights” by Kanye West]

In 1986, Goldman Sachs needed or at least accepted a $500 million capital injection from Sumitomo Bank. The Japanese Bank was anxious to learn about the world of investment banking and willing to fork over $500 million for a minority stake in Goldman and the right to send two dozen interns to America to learn from America’s finest investment bankers – Goldman Sachs.

Through pure strategery, Goldman was able to persuade the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to set a quota on Japanese interns (that’s why Goldman gets paid the big bucks!) The government limited Sumitomo to two – not two dozen – interns, and Sumitomo’s two interns could stay in New York for only twelve months before rotating home. Agriculture protectionist policies don’t seem so bad now, do they? It may be hard to believe, but in the eighties many feared the Japanese were buying up America. We all arrived here differently. Our present situations are all different as well. Perhaps this is what leads to misunderstandings. But with the proper communication, it can also lead to resolutions. Some Africans were forced here, some Japanese bankers tried to enter through the back door.

Read more on AbovetheLaw.com