The document discusses several topics related to public policy issues in the United States, including Medicare and Medicaid costs, unemployment rates, Social Security funding issues, climate change impacts and responses, concerns about jobs in the oil/gas industry, illegal immigration levels and debates, gun violence prevalence, and the militarization of local police forces. It provides references for further reading on each of these complex challenges facing American society.

1. Jacob Birtwhistle
MPA 660
Professor Kittredge

2.  Medicare and Medicaid
 Medicare is a federal insurance program
 Medicaid is paid for by the states
 Rising cost of prescription drugs (Kaplan, 2017)
 Labor Market
 Employment rates must be factored and analyzed (Econ Policy Institute,
2017)
 Jobless rate and employment rate (Hamel, 2017)
 U3, U5, and U6
 U3 measures official unemployment (Piven, 2015)
 U5 includes discouraged workers (Piven, 2015)
 U6 adds those that are part-time for economic reasons (Piven, 2015)

3.  Social Security
 Taxes and reserves are insufficient (Aaron, 2018)
 Congress has not made significant progress (Aaron, 2018)
 Payroll tax ceiling (Thompson, 2010)
 Climate Change
 Cost-benefit ratio
 New report on climate change (Davenport, 2018)
 Concern About Lost Jobs
 Natural gas and oil industry account for 9 million jobs (Goodman, 2014)
 7.7 percent of U.S. economy (Goodman, 2014)
 Weigh risks versus rewards

4.  Illegal Immigration
 Over 12 million undocumented immigrants (Marshall and
Gonchar, 2014)
 Differing Views
 Add to the economy
 Suppress wages and employment rates
 Comprehensive Legislation
 Little legislation has been passed (Marshall and Gonchar, 2014)
 Path to citizenship and boarder security

5.  Gun Violence
 America has more gun violence than any developed country (Smith,
2017)
 No meaningful legislation passed in two decades (Smith, 2017)
 Most Americans want stricter gun laws (Smith, 2017)
 Demilitarization
 Strained relationship
 Military action increases tensions
 Changing 1033 Program
 More transparency
 Local Law enforcement administrators

6.  Email: Jacob.birtwhistle@yahoo.com
 Phone: 916-555-5555
 Please see the link below to access the script for
this presentation

7.  Aaron, H. (2018). Social Security: Keep Social Security Secure. AMASS, 24-29.
 Abbey-Lambertz, K., & Erbentraut, J. (2017, December 6). The Simple Strategies That Could Fundamentally Change How Communities View
Their Police. Retrieved October 25, 2018, from Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/17/community-policing-police-
trust_n_6607766.html
 Balko, R. (2015, May 18). Obama moves to demilitarize America’s police. Retrieved October 25, 2018, from The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/05/18/obama-moves-to-demilitarize-americas-police/?utm_term=.c7cdd0f900c3
 Davenport, C. (2018, October 7). Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040. Retrieved October 8, 2018, from New
York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/climate/ipcc-climate-report-2040.html
 Econ, H. (2015, March 7). Total Cost of Ferguson Riots. Retrieved October 25, 2018, from Hoosier Econ: https://hoosierecon.com/2015/03/07/total-
cost-of-ferguson-riots/
 Economic Policy Institute. (2017, Jul 7). Missing Workers. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from Economic Policy Institute:
https://www.epi.org/publication/missing-workers/
 Felter, C., & Renwick, D. (2018, July 2). The U.S. Immigration Debate. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from Council on Foreign Relations:
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0
 Goodman, H. (2014, July 22). The Cost Benefit Analysis of Climate Change Legislation: Future Generations Will Thank You. Retrieved October
8, 2018, from Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/the-cost-benefit-analysis-climate-change_b_5369092.html
 Hamel, G. (2017, September 26). Difference Between Joblessness & Unemployment. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from Bizfluent: info-8474780-
difference-between-joblessness-unemployment
 Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation. (2017, November 17). 10 Essential Facts About Medicare and Prescription Drug Spending. Retrieved
September 18, 2018, from Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation: https://www.kff.org/infographic/10-essential-facts-about-medicare-and-
prescription-drug-spending/
 Institute of Policy Integrity. (2017). Does Environmental Regulation Hurt or Kill Jobs. New York: New York University School of Law.
 Kaplan, S. (2017, May). Why Our Drugs Cost So Much. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from AARP: https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-
supplements/info-2017/rx-prescription-drug-pricing.html
 Macro Trends. (2016). U6 unemployment Rate. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from Macro Trends: https://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-
unemployment-rate
 Marshall, T., & Gonchar, M. (2014, December 10). Border Politics: Debating Immigration Policy. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from The New York
Times: https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/border-politics-debating-immigration-policy/
 Piven, B. (2015, May 2). Official unemployment rate understates true U.S. joblessness. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from AL Jazeera:
http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/ajam-presents-hard-earned/articles/2015/5/2/unemployment-rate-understates-joblessness.html
 Pro Con. (2018). Should the Government Allow Immigrants Who Are Here Illegally to Become US Citizens? Retrieved October 15, 2018, from
Pro Con: https://immigration.procon.org/
 Serrano, R., & Pearce, M. (2015, June 30). Police response to Ferguson protests, in a word, failed, federal draft report says . Retrieved October 25,
2018, from Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ferguson-draft-report-20150630-story.html
 Smith, P. (2017). Guns in America. Junior Scholastic, 8-11.
 Thompson, D. (2010, August 20). A Conservative's Take on Social Security Reform. Retrieved October 2, 2018, from The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/08/a-conservatives-take-on-social-security-reform/61841/