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Andy I do realize that the sad part most people have no idea. I have studied Japan for years and their issues. Their government bailed banks and businesses with cash from the bank of Japan. It is the main reason their recession has lasted over 20 years. Their debt is a 120% of GDP the meltdown is coming. Masses of young people have no entry jobs they work part and temp jobs. They have no future and they will never have one. See that was my point the media is selling everything is ok. As you and I have pointed out it is not. The level of manipulation in the economy is unreal. This goes for unemployment numbers growth rates you name it. Most of the growth is artificial caused by the government dumping cash into the system. The issues are systemic and will not be fixed. Thus things will get worse. Business will sell off the the US like a big yard sale. One part at a time and the government will help them do it. We are heading for a Japan style recession.
Andy I do realize that the sad part most people have no idea. I have studied Japan for years and their issues. Their government bailed banks and businesses with cash from the bank of Japan. It is the main reason their recession has lasted over 20 years. Their debt is a 120% of GDP the meltdown is coming. Masses of young people have no entry jobs they work part and temp jobs. They have no future and they will never have one. See that was my point the media is selling everything is ok. As you and I have pointed out it is not. The level of manipulation in the economy is unreal. This goes for unemployment numbers growth rates you name it. Most of the growth is artificial caused by the government dumping cash into the system. The issues are systemic and will not be fixed. Thus things will get worse. Business will sell off the the US like a big yard sale. One part at a time and the government will help them do it. We are heading for a Japan style recession.
Sorry about that but that is the real deal. People bury their heads in the sand. The media sells everything is ok and people buy it. Most people have no idea what is going on nor do they care to learn. There is a lack of entry level jobs for young people. I mean 85% of last year's college grads are beck at home. There are long term issues why this is not one has been fixed. And the sad fact they will not be.
Sorry about that but that is the real deal. People bury their heads in the sand. The media sells everything is ok and people buy it. Most people have no idea what is going on nor do they care to learn. There is a lack of entry level jobs for young people. I mean 85% of last year's college grads are beck at home. There are long term issues why this is not one has been fixed. And the sad fact they will not be.
It appears with all your knowledge and ability to predict the future a great job should be easy for you to get.
I think a lot of younger workers and college students are radically changing their expectations in life as a result of the job situation. And I don't think that the older generations have realized or understood the depth of those changes yet.
We see some of that showing up in the statistics already - rates of childbearing and marriage among younger (and for statistical purposes, we'd generally define "younger" as "18 to 35," though the changes are more pronounced the closer you get to the "18" end of the scale) people are way down compared to that same age cohort only a couple decades ago. Among native-born Americans, childbearing rates have fallen to the levels we see in parts of Western Europe.
This is due to simple human nature, which is something a lot of commentators and policy-makers fail or refuse to understand. When people are faced with something like a difficult employment scene, or a "musical chairs" jobs environment where there just aren't enough jobs to go around, a small percentage respond by going into overdrive, spending their days and nights working hard and "networking" and all the rest, and that may help in many cases.
But most human beings don't have the will or drive to do that. They don't have the will to toil for long hours doing things they hate for people they despise in the hopes that perhaps things will be better eventually. Not unless they have a compelling reason like "the need to support my kids" or something along those lines. Instead, many of them (especially younger males) choose to "drop out" of the workforce to a large extent, and are satisfied with merely "getting by."
The response to this fact of human nature has been to pillory or chastise or attempt to "shame" the people who do this, but as we can see, those tactics simply don't work, because they are attempting to thwart human nature itself.
As a result, the future will be very interesting - there will be fewer American kids, fewer marriages, way more single/unmarried females than ever before in American history, and probably reduced economic demand across the board for goods and services, since men by themselves tend not to be very big consumers - their lifetime consumption is usually driven up when they have spouses or children, but remains fairly low otherwise.
Car companies are seeing this at the moment - fewer and fewer under-35s are purchasing new vehicles. But these trends are still young by demographic standards; their effects are barely at the cusp of being felt by wider society. That, though, is about to change.
I was talking to my dad about this- he is retired but spent his career working as an engineer in manufacturing across many industries and for some of the largest corporations in the world. He has watched the gradual increase of automation over the past decades and he is concerned about where this is headed. He isn't optimistic about the effect this has on society, because ultimately what it does is eliminate jobs.
Of course, consumers wanting to pay the cheapest price possible for everything is a huge driving force, as well as companies wanting to produce a profit. Its the basis of a capitalist system.
But 50 years ago, there were lots of jobs available for all types of people - for those who didn't want to go to school past high school , or for those who wanted to learn a trade. They could get jobs in manufacturing and make a decent living for decades.
Due to the trends in automation, even if some manufacturing returns to the US, it will never be at level it was in the past.
Not everyone is going to be able to learn how to be a technician who takes care of the robots and other machines.
Our population has more than doubled from where it was 60 years ago. Population of the US in 1950 was 152 million. In 2010 it was 308 million. Even though we would hope that our grade school education system is better than it was in 1960, I don't think there is any evidence that we are now churning out a huge amount of students who have the skills and abilities to pursue highly specialized positions in technology.
So all those people still need ways to make a living, so that they can buy all the products being produced, warehoused, and shipped by robots.
Kitten you make some good points. Between 2000 to 2007 5 million jobs were eliminated by automation in manufacturing alone. Who knows how many have been eliminated between 2007 to 2012. Many young people can no longer find work that pays a living wage. The entry level job has been replaced by interns temps and part time work. We need good paying for all young people. At all skill levels not everybody goes to college. Not everybody has the brains for medical school. There needs to be some middle ground for workers.
I think a lot of younger workers and college students are radically changing their expectations in life as a result of the job situation. And I don't think that the older generations have realized or understood the depth of those changes yet.
We see some of that showing up in the statistics already - rates of childbearing and marriage among younger (and for statistical purposes, we'd generally define "younger" as "18 to 35," though the changes are more pronounced the closer you get to the "18" end of the scale) people are way down compared to that same age cohort only a couple decades ago. Among native-born Americans, childbearing rates have fallen to the levels we see in parts of Western Europe.
This is due to simple human nature, which is something a lot of commentators and policy-makers fail or refuse to understand. When people are faced with something like a difficult employment scene, or a "musical chairs" jobs environment where there just aren't enough jobs to go around, a small percentage respond by going into overdrive, spending their days and nights working hard and "networking" and all the rest, and that may help in many cases.
But most human beings don't have the will or drive to do that. They don't have the will to toil for long hours doing things they hate for people they despise in the hopes that perhaps things will be better eventually. Not unless they have a compelling reason like "the need to support my kids" or something along those lines. Instead, many of them (especially younger males) choose to "drop out" of the workforce to a large extent, and are satisfied with merely "getting by."
The response to this fact of human nature has been to pillory or chastise or attempt to "shame" the people who do this, but as we can see, those tactics simply don't work, because they are attempting to thwart human nature itself.
As a result, the future will be very interesting - there will be fewer American kids, fewer marriages, way more single/unmarried females than ever before in American history, and probably reduced economic demand across the board for goods and services, since men by themselves tend not to be very big consumers - their lifetime consumption is usually driven up when they have spouses or children, but remains fairly low otherwise.
Car companies are seeing this at the moment - fewer and fewer under-35s are purchasing new vehicles. But these trends are still young by demographic standards; their effects are barely at the cusp of being felt by wider society. That, though, is about to change.
A lot of what you talk about is split differently among college grads and HS grads.
i feel sorry for y generation too. for many things. rotten parenting. rotten opportunity. rotten government and misprogramming as to what will make for success. let me atone for 1 minute for the fact that i dodged it and did not have kids.
kid this is for you:
employment is 85% attitude-- fix it now.
prestige does not pay the rent. most want an advanced degree in gen ed
most just need a trade.
a trade. dont leave home w/o it
trades cheap and abundant jr college and military, my favorite pick RN.
no PhD nec just a basic RN certificate and license, vocational ed, will make u a full officer in army, 80 to 90k annual with tons of benefits.
stay outa debt its not clever leveraging, its slavery dont do it.
sons, do not do not marry w/o a prenup.
listen to dave ramsey
vote for ron paul.
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