Working Poor, Low-Head Dams, Colorado River
The Working Poor (1:04) Guests: Scott Sanders, Ph. D, Assistant Professor of Sociology at BYU Work and poverty are Top of Mind today. The U.S. Census reports that 45 million Americans are poor. That word invokes a stereotype held by many that people are poor by choice – they’re lazy or would rather be on welfare than work, oeven that they’re gaming the system. Research done recently by BYU sociology professor Scott Sanders and his co-authors at Louisiana State University and Cornell University finds the reality of poverty in America is in stark contrast to that stereotype. The majority of America’s poor live in a household where someone works and that a large number of poor Americans are in fact “playing by the rules” but find themselves unable to escape poverty. Older Workers and the Job Search (21:50) Guest: Darla Hamann, Ph. D., Professor of Human Resource Managment at the University of Texas, Arlington Let’s turn now to the challenges facing people over 55 who find themselves out of work. They were hit especially hard during the 2007 financial crisis, and they now continue to have more difficulty finding a job than younger displaced workers. Dr. Darla Hamann is part of a team of researchers studying why this is the case. Dr. Hamann is a professor of human resource management at the University of Texas, Arlington. She co-authored “Age and Reemployment Success After Job Loss” a study published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. Dangers of Low-head Dams (37:16) Guest: Rollin Hotchkiss, PH. D, Department of Engineering at BYU Just last month, two kayakers on a river in Ohio died while trying to cross over a small dam. These “low-head” dams—usually no more than two feet high—don’t block water altogether, instead they limit the height, usually for irrigation purposes. Yet even though they may be small, they create inescapable currents that have killed more than 450 people in the past 50 years. There have been fatalities in almost every state, even as most people aren’t aware of the danger of what—on the surface, looks like mild white-water. Colorado River Delta History and Conflict (52:09) Guest: Evan Ward, Ph. D, Professor of History at BYU A little over a year ago, something historic happened to the Colorado River—it reached the sea. That hadn’t been true for more than a decade, thanks to the steady damming and draining of the river to slake the thirst of cities and fields across the West. But, in 2012, the US and Mexico signed a deal to experiment with restoring what was once a rich delta where the Colorado River meets the Sea of Cortez in Northern Mexico. The experiment entailed releasing more water from dams along the river and it’s been hailed by conservationists and the US Department of Interior as one of the great successes of 2014. But the five year experiment will end soon and the future of the Colorado River Delta will depend on the ability of the US and Mexico to reach another agreement. Buyer’s Change Sales Processes (1:24:37) Guest: Kathleen Glass, Founder and CEO of Oinkodomeo LLC A decade ago there was an awful lot of talk about how online shopping would drive “brick and mortar” stores to extinction. Who would fight traffic, navigate parking lots, wander the aisles looking for that one thing and then stand in line to check out when you could have the item delivered to your doorstep with just a few clicks? Well, the intervening years have proven both types of shopping can coexist – but buyer behaviors are changing. And that’s forcing stores to sell differently.