Reader Response Final

In this article, “China has almost wiped out urban poverty. Now it must tackle inequality”. Although with reduced poverty is still presented with the problem of inequality among its people. The author Stuart (2015), states that China’s poverty issue has been eradicated gradually due to the Government granting subsidies and employing more workers in the country. However they are still facing inequality problems and the measures taken need to be sustainable. Stuart (2015) also notes that the Government is still facing income inequality, gender and regional unequal treatment, and air pollution which they have yet to overcome. Indeed all these issues are problematic therefore working out a plan could be time consuming and even costly in times of economic downturn. Nonetheless these issues will still remain hence they should focus on more reliable countermeasures such as taxing on the wealthy, offering better funding and rebates, or improving the social policies.

Some of the wealthy in China tends to go underhand by transferring some of their assets overseas to avoid taxation. China could prevent companies from transferring their financial gains overseas in order to avoid paying income taxes and insist that companies pay equitable taxes (Sanders, 2016). Hence with the wealthy paying more taxes, the Government could create more working opportunities for people in rural areas. This would therefore improve the balance of income disparities. In addition China’s Government should attempt to narrow the income gap.

It would be hard to completely patch the income gap but there are ways to narrow the income gap. According to the article “Is Singapore’s income inequality gap narrowing?”, Holliday (2014) states that lower income families usually received help from the Singapore’s Government known as ‘Special Transfers’ where they gave out utilities rebate that aided in narrowing the income gap. China should adopt the policies like the Singapore’s Government giving out utilities rebates for residents with lower income reducing their financial burden. Additionally, the co-funding of wages for the workers in Singapore has also helped organizations to give more for their employees which China could follow. China could also create social policies to rebalance their economy.

Unfortunately, although creating a new policy could resolve an inequality problem but could also aggravate another. Therefore in order to create equality, in the article, “An introduction to social policy”, Spicker (2006) noted that there are three ways to focus on. Firstly, the equality of treatment, people should be treated as equals without prejudice. Secondly, giving equal opportunity, people should be given an opportunity to venture with what they seek and able to prove themselves on the same ground. Lastly, policies that promote the equality of income should be focusing on solving problems instead of raising concerns on the disadvantages. Hence with these methods, China should be able to make the measures more sustainable.

The ideal outcome comes from the Government as well as the people of the country. Be it the rich or the poor, everyone should be given the same treatment and opportunities to create a better future for their country.

References:

1.       Bernie Sanders(2016). Income and wealth inequality from https://berniesanders.com/issues/income-and-wealth-inequality/

2.       Katie Holliday(2014) Retrieved 7 Aug 2014 from Is Singapore income inequality gap narrowing?  http://www.cnbc.com/2014/08/07/is-singapores-income-inequality-gap-narrowing.html

3.       Paul Spicker(2006) An introduction to social policy from http://www.spicker.uk/social-policy/equality.htm#Gender%20and%20social%20policy

Error Correction

1.       I feel that he adopts a very utilitarian approach. Self-acknowledgement and not convincing
His approach appears utilitarian.

2.       I agree with Stuart’s suggestion. Self-acknowledgement and what is the suggestion?

Stuart makes a convincing case for/a compelling/persuasive argument for..

3.       I acknowledge that… self-acknowledgement
It is true that..

4.       Indeed, there is much evidence to show that attempts have been made to solve the problem of income disparity in China…

5.       Gender inequality remains unresolved. Gender equality starts with family planning.

6.       The gender gap will(can/will likely/hopufully) minimized.

7.       The Government needs to take immediate action.

8.       There are(is) also evidence that…

9.       Females still (loses) out to males.

10.   Gender inequality are(is)…

11.   Discuss about(talk about), seek for, mention on

12.   Females are stereotyped as a housewife.

13.   Women and househusband…
Different subject, women & men, housewife & househusband

14.   Indeed with family planning, women have more opportunities to seek employment instead of looking after children at home. Though women have more opportunities to work, gender inequality still persists. Women still lose out compared to their male counterparts as they tend to be at the bottom of the corporate world. The income difference and the gender distribution in the corporate world shows that gender inequality continue to persist even with family planning.

15.   According to the article, the government uses financial aid for the residents living in urban areas so that they are able to afford more necessities. In the short term this would allow the people to be able to move out of their poverty zone, but in the long run it will not be feasible for the government to continue with their measures.

16.   Thesis statement:

However, it is important to note that equality starts from educating both the individual, and the government. 

Body paragraph 1:

It has always been a norm that women do the housework and stay at home, while men make the money to support the family. Till today, where there are families with career-minded women and househusbands, capable women are unwilling to acknowledge that their husbands are the one taking care of the house. “But the power moms with the stay-at-home husbands are just as uneasy, often more embarrassed than proud that they’ve upset the traditional order” (Chen, 2013). Hence it is important that we educate the individuals to think otherwise, accept changes in the traditional norms and view women the same as men.

Reader Response Draft 1

In this article, “China has almost wiped out urban poverty. Now it must tackle inequality”. From this we are able to understand that China, although with reduced poverty is still presented with the problem of inequality within its people. The author Stuart (2015), states that China’s poverty issue has been eradicated gradually due to the Government granting subsidies and employing more workers in the country. However they are still facing inequality problems and the measures taken were not entirely sustainable. She further supported with evidence from the China Household Income Project (CHIP), that the subsidy had raised the income of urban dwellers which lifted more people out of poverty, therefore alleviating the inequality within China (Stuart, 2015). Stuart (2015) also notes that the Government is still facing income imbalance, gender and regional unequal treatment, and pollution which they have yet to overcome. Indeed all these issues are problematic therefore working out a plan could be time consuming and even costly in times of economic downturn. Nonetheless these issues will still remain hence we should focus on more reliable countermeasures such as focusing on the wealthy, offering better funding and rebates, or improving the social policies.

Firstly, China could prevent companies from transferring their financial gains overseas in order to avoid paying income taxes and insist that companies pay equitable taxes (Sanders, 2016). Hence with the additional resources gained from the taxes, the Government could create more working opportunities for people in rural areas. This would therefore improve the balance of income disparities. In addition China’s Government should attempt to narrow the income gap.

According to the article “Is Singapore’s income inequality gap narrowing?”, Holliday (2014) states that lower income families received help from the Singapore’s Government known as ‘Special Transfers’ where the Government gave out utilities rebate that aided in narrowing the income gap. The Government gave out utilities rebates for residents with lower income reducing their financial burden. Furthermore, the co-funding of wages for the workers in Singapore has also helped organizations to give more for their employees. The Government also could create social policies to rebalance China’s economy.

Creating a new policy could resolve an inequality problem but aggravate another. Therefore in order to create equality, in the article, “An introduction to social policy”, Spicker (2006) noted that there are three ways to focus on. Firstly, the equality of treatment, people should be treated as equals without prejudice. Secondly, giving equal opportunity, people should be given an opportunity to venture with what they seek and able to proof themselves on the same ground. Lastly, equality of outcome, regardless of the outcome, the policies should be focusing on solving problems instead of raising concerns on the disadvantages. Hence with these methods, China should be able to make the measures more sustainable.

The ideal outcome comes from the Government as well as the people of the country. Be it the rich or the poor, everyone should be given the same treatment and opportunities to create a better future for their country.