Comments on: The Future of Jobs in America
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- I say......
We are going to be poorer as a whole unless the flow of money between consumer/worker and corporations/banks is more of a balanced symbiotic relationship and less of an extraction. Corporations/banks are very good at making money. And there is no fundamental reason to give it back to the people. The people HAD a lot of money, but they spent it all unwisely in the last 15 years or so, they saved very little and maxxed out their credit cards. The corporations/banks got it all now.
Of the last 3 economic booms in this country Stock market in the 90's, Internet boom in the 90's and the real estate boom of about 1998-2005... 2 of those were paper booms and not built on tangible goods or wealth. So they could not really hold up. The crash ruined them so hard. But the thing to note is since those booms were on paper they were effectively false and should never have been in the first place. The easy money housing boom was really a false economy. And a standard of living/consumption that should not have been either. And all the industry and jobs created as a result of those booms should never have been as well and needs to be washed away before we can recover. Tough love it is. We will de-leverage and de-couple and re-adjust our needs vs. wants and this will be quite painful for quite a while. Well can you do without the new custom Harley, the Cadillac Escalade, more jewelry, the kitchen remodel etc.? All the not so absolutely necessary things that you thought you had to have?
But the thing to think about is this is still the richest country. Our GDP is 14 trillion a year which equals about $48,000 per person (man, woman, child, baby, retiree etc. ). There is still a lot to go around. But there is no sound economic reason for that to happen. When we work we are very productive, and are constantly improving, which means we constantly need less people to do the same amount of work. I believe we are at the point where we have out-efficiencied ourselves out of a job. If we can get it done cheaper elsewhere, we do. Our basic necessities are the perfect example of this. They (food and especially clothing) are done on the cheap. We would not make enough money to live in this country if we were paid what the average garment maker, crop picker was paid. So we are not going to starve and we are not going to have to go without clothing (hmmm maybe that wouldn't be so bad!, Ok except for in winter).
I tell you what, Corporations tightening their belts and laying people off or shipping their jobs overseas really really hurts the economy. Remember the economy is about 65% of what the consumer spends. Thats incredible. So if you just keep taking more of that money and don't hire people in this country, there is less and less money available in this country to buy the same goods and services that corporation makes. So they are really effectively robbing themselves of customers. They may make more profits in the short term but not in the long term. There is a fundamental problem right there. Short term profits over long term sustainability. That is bad bad strategy as well. We will probably be around tomorrow, next month, next year, ten years from now, 40 years from now etc. So plan on long term, geez.
And if that isn't enough... just remember... In the real world (not the government)... jobs aren't created for the sake of the people to have a job, they are created because the owner of the company needs something done and will make money from you doing it. And if we are eventually going to have robots doing everything... its gonna suck because robots don't shop at Home Depot or eat at Applebee's, or drink Budweiser, or wear Nike's or Croc's so even less money for consumers.
It's going to be like that or it's going to be like "Soylent Green" or somewhere in between.
So if us humans want to live well, we have to look out for ourselves and when in doubt, hire a person to do something, there has to be more balanced cycle of money. If not we will eventually have some horrific stratification of ourselves with the super rich not giving a crap about the multitudes of super poor. We really dont want that. - Reply to this comment
- Sigh .... listen, jobs. Look at this from 3 points of view. 1) Recession. This wiped out all jobs created since the year 2000. Since the year 2000, we have had 10 graduating classes from HS, College ect, all looking for work. We also have millions fired / laid off / terminated (pick your poison) competing for the same positions essentially. b) Unemployment / underemployment - well, companies can just hire experienced folks at a fraction of the salary they used to command, and if they say no ... there are 500 ready to go resumes per position (that is jobs that pay decent) most are hitting part time to Frey healthcare / benefits costs ... remember the goal of business and corporation is to maximize profit. (The recession has exposed sever operating flaws, so businesses are learning do more with less personnel, meaning there will be less jobs even when the economy recovers lol) c) Trending ... small business's account for most of the US jobs ... so entrepreneurs wilt hire you, entry level, give you a raise 1-2 years and then let you go ("eliminate your position") and hire somebody else in a similar role or pass your responsibilities to somebody they recently hired within the last year .. this is common in this market to keep costs down since there is a huge labor pool to choose from. No Job security = no consumer confidence = bad economic situation as a debt based / consumer based economy. Now, here's the rub, operating expense. Look at NYC for example, cutting 1000's of jobs and not filing positions because they simply can't afford it ... every state / city is hurting this way, so not only are private sector jobs scare ... but local and state government jobs as well. Congress nixed unemployment benefits for many running out this Nov ... police are cutting jobs back ... educating is taking a hit ... college kids cant pay back loans (no jobs) ... I mean is it just me or is this just a bad riot waiting to happen haha. Solution: Obama has no power ... watch who you vote into state and national senate and congress for one. The little guy you don't know much about on a ballot .. is because he wants real change but doesn't have the corporate money to fund a campaign lol. Don't invest in the stock market, pay off yur debt (all of it) do not borrow and stop buying what you don;t need ... for 1-2 years. When you elect out bad officials and hurt the profit margins of corporations .. well the rick stop getting richer, a big deal gets made .. but uncle sam can't hold a gun to your head and make you buy something ... so less jobs = less tax revenue ... less consumer consumptions and buying of goods = less tax dollars t0 uncle sam = win for america. This naturally will never happen, Dr.King had a hard to boycotting buses for awhile .. but listen. The congress and senate run America along with the corporations that put them there .. just ask any lobbyist how much they take home a year! On one hand I feel sorry for a lot of people .. on the other hand .. you voted some retards in office so you did it to yourself. By the way, it is NOT HUMANLY POSSIBLE to pay off the national debt. In case you were wondering what a dollar is .. it;s a reserve note ... it's a debt based system .. no debt = no money .. again, save your cash, pay off your debt and America will change .. it's the only way it will change ... but like Rome .. the "Plebs" are ill informed and vain, the senate is corrupt and out of touch, and emperor ceasar I mean Obama is too busy playing politics to do any real good. Sucks to be an American right now, especially since China is about to usurp our economy and hegemony ... well needless to say there are too many world powers .. too many chiefs not enough Indians ... wonder what comes next ... WWIII ... world overpopulated .. not enough jobs and competition for resources ... history tells us this gives rise to charismatic leaders and people follow them. Cesar / Hitler ect ... want some real repose ... eliminate all public / personal and national debt. Revalue currency based on national GDP, re-write current legislation and make modern laws to restrict manipulation and loopholes going forward. With no debt, we can I dont know .. create more jobs than people on earth? Modernize infrastructure, fund education and healthcare universally, solve world hunger and strife, put people on the moon / mars .. have CERN figure out how to use antimatter for an energy source, invent fusion, save the whales and transform civilization forever ... and a charismatic president would appeal to the UN in a global recession, talk some sense into people, and lead by example. And if the world doesn't play ball, pull out of the UN, close our borders, eliminate debt in America, bring out troops home, make everything we need here and let our allies come to us.
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- We know that the cancer of this dying economy are the CEOs and government facilitators that are killing consumers with layoff venom, as they move factory plants to cheap labor countries as an excuse to fight China?s Trade Disease. What we are also learning is that, this disease is also spreading to other still healthy cells, like people with jobs that will not spend money in cars, houses, home improvements, and other investments, because they are afraid of being contaminated by possible future layoffs due to the continuous selling of America by CEOs and government facilitators of current global trade agreements. What happens to an economy with cheap ?supply? and poor or no ?demand?? Is this so difficult to see? Is there a cure for this cancer?
This is the answer I think of, when someone is trying to find a job:
Want a job in America? It?s simple: Make sure that the government eliminates any ?minimum wage? and union laws, and in your ?resume? you offer CEOs, not only good skills, education, and ideas, but also wages, benefits, and working conditions, equal or less than in China, Mexico, or other cheap ?global? places. You and the economy will be doomed, anyway, because, since CEOs don?t believe in producing wealthy workers as empowered consumers to create demand, the cheap products on their shelves won?t sell, and the business will fall sooner or later. But don?t be sorry for them. They will survive. The term ?bad economy? is just for the rest of us! - Reply to this comment
- Either our economists and journalists are blind or, more likely, they are prohibited by their employers from telling the truth about our economy!
You don't need to be an expert in economics to see that globalization, as it's practiced now, is a destructive form of capitalism which only benefits entrepreneurs and wealthy investors.
What's the point of developing new technologies and being more productive and innovative if the resulting jobs are shipped overseas?
It's getting to the point where you're better off selling hot dogs on the corner than going to college hoping to have a secure future!
Americans need to do like the Europeans:
- Get unionized
- Start going on strike to demand changes to our international trade agreements
- Start voting for people who are against unrestrained globalization - Reply to this comment
- I am continuously frustrated by the discussion on employment and lack there of. It seems that the people engaged in these discussions are employed and making much more money than the average American. They have no idea what it feels like to wake up every day and worry about how to feed your family, which bill am I going to be able to pay, is today the day someone finally responds to my job application, etc.
As one of those people discussed above, I have two thoughts on how to add more jobs to America. The first is to revive a sector of manufacturing that we have killed by sending it out of AMerica.
Whether it's cars, pharmaceuticals, textiles, whatever, Americans can make it well. It may mean that some of the people on top have to give up a zero or two on their paychecks, but in the long run isn't it worth it?
Secondly, how about rehiring some HR folks? Today's current process of applying on-line is awful. There are not any real live people to contact about open positions, nobody to call to make sure that your resume was received, nothing. Job seekers are left in a giant abyss. It is the most lonely and disheartening thing I personally have endured.
Those are my two cents on how to increase jobs! - Reply to this comment
- If you want a real story, investigate what modern high-tech jobs are like, and you'll find out why we don't graduate more engineers to fill them. With the H1B visas keeping wages depressed and companies increasingly demanding exhausting work hours to meet ridiculously planned schedules, why would young people choose these careers? As a computer science professor, how am I supposed to encourage students to pursue a career as a programmer or software engineer when I know that they could get a business degree with less work at the university level and make more money with easier schedules? The industry is shameful right now. The fixes? Scrap the H1B program completely (it's just a handout to corporations wanting to hire cheap worker drones who will work any amount of hours they demand), and encourage technology workers to unionize. Our students will take the tech career path if we make it worthwhile; right now as a country we are not doing that, and no government program is going to change that without a workplace change.
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- Some of the people have part of the information. Richard Millhouse Nixon jamed a bill through Congress in the 70's to give business' a deal to go overseas. He and Congress said that we could reduce foreign aid by giving business a tax break to go overseas. Then it was 125% of their cost to move was deductible, now it may be more.
Now just think we have a company called Halliberton "witch is the parent company of Kellogg, Brown & Root" that just moved to Dubi. Halliberton supplys logestics and support in many ways. They supply the food our soldiers eat the truck repair and maintenance and alot of other functions. All done by a foreign based company. Billions of DOLLARS going overseas at an alarming rate.
Change the tax base not paying company's to go overseas and you will see the bleeding of AMERICAN JOBS slow down and maybe stop. Also be very aware of who you vote for and what they can or will do. Get involved it is your country.
Thanks. - Reply to this comment
- We need to invest in innovation. All we have is venture capital and investment banks that look for a big return in a short time frame. Lots of great ideas with what would be good companies never get funded. If we want capitalism to work, we need to make capital available.
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- When I watched the sagment on job creation on The Evening News, yesterday,I was incredulous that " Technology" "Business" "Computers" etc. was all that was needed for a society as diverse as our is. There was no mention of The Arts, History, The Humanities etc..: Nothing, Zip! I almost felt very sad--what to make of this? Unbelievable!
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- This problem will never be solved until we solve the social problems that lead up to this disaster. Corporations are behaving as sociopaths, and so are governments who don't represent the peoples best interests. As each day ends so will jobs, because of technological unemployment, which means the job was automated.
Capitalism won't work if people aren't employed so that they can purchase goods and services. The whole thing will crumble if people can't afford to purchase.
We need to look at alternatives to capitalism if the people of this planet are to have a decent peaceful lives.
I think the Zeitgeist Movement offers the best alternative for all people to have a better life. So please look into this movement, and see real change.
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