Unemployment

For Mills, if only one in a population of 100,000 are unemployed, then it might be a personal trouble. The solution may be improving that individual's character, skills, or opportunities.

But if 10,000 or so are unemployed, then it is a public issue. The solution then would look into the structure of opportunities — the economic and political institutions in the society

Drug Problem

In the Philippine context, if selling drugs and drug addiction is a public issue, then the problem and resolution lies within the public realm. What components in the society cause or influence the problem? Why do people sell drugs?

An example could be poverty — a more complex social problem but can be addressed through:

• Accessible education

• Economic policies that will create more opportunities and would also favor skilled jobs such as agriculture

Traffic

A personal solution to deal wtih traffic would be to wake up very early and leaving 2 hours or so earlier to avoid traffic and then being late.

Coming up with a public solution would consider the following:

• Do we have efficient mass transport system?

• The architecture of our cities, how do we use and make sense of public spaces? Does it encourage vehicular transport more? Is it conducive for alternative transport such as walking and biking?