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Interesting, as it seems the overall trend mentioned in this thread is that populations are growing, technologies efficiencies are stealing the workforce and resources are depleting. These are some very scary trends along with global warming, nuclear ambitious countries and of course the squeezing of corporate greed for the top percentage.
I guess most individuals are struggling to control just there small little world in which they live in to not only survive but have a life as well. I was talking with a business associate involved in technology & they were saying in 20 years that 50% of the current workforce will no longer be needed due to advances.
I think the current unemployment figures are so far from the actual numbers of unemployed & I do not think the majority of those unemployed are unproductive leeches as they are continually looking for employment but there is such a large pool of applicants and of course everything is on-line so they no longer have the opportunity to meet face to face to sell themselves. The individual is now a word document.
Serious problems that unsure will really ever be resolved. People like to have optimism but what if the truth is global populations are increasing to the point they have outstripped resources for employment, drinking water etc etc.
Sorry for the negative post but when you look outside of your little world in which you live, it is scary what the bigger picture looks like.
The calculations for unemployment numbers are the same as they have always been- so if you think the numbers are highly inaccurate now, then they always have been- and with that in mind, a low unemployment number now means the same as a low unemployment number meant 20 years ago. It's all relative and still an accurate way to gauge the job market- and yes, with that in mind we are in good shape employment-wise. All you have to do is look around- companies everywhere are hiring, in many areas it's hare for them to find quality workers because workers have so many options now as opposed to 5 years ago when things were bleak as a job seeker.
And people are earning decent money again- the housing boom is a good example. Families are buying new homes like crazy- new cars are everywhere, I can't drive anywhere now, not even a short trip to the grocery store without seeing multiple new cars people have just purchased.
And in response to the OP, the national debt? That is not just Obama's fault, that is the fault of every president and congress from the current ones back through many previously.
If you had moved into the 5th Level Economy in the mid-1990s like you were supposed to do, then for every 10 manufacturing jobs lost, you'd gain 9 jobs in Research & Development.
Okay. You have my interest, if you would be so kind?
To bring back growth, we need to reduce the obstacles to growth that are self-imposed. That means reducing taxes, reducing regulations, reducing legal risk to businesses, shrinking government, etc. These idiots in Washington have been talking about corporate tax reform for how long, but have they passed a bill to lower corporate taxes? What about removing double taxation when companies repatriate overseas profits? How about reducing regulations that cost businesses trillions of dollars a year? Why do we have an entire major political party that exists to trash business and the most productive citizens as greedy and not paying their fair share in taxes?
There's no silver bullet but, if we were trying to run our economy into the ground, we could not do a better job than what the government is currently doing. I'm not guaranteeing my method will work but I can guarantee that nothing will improve if we continue down the same path (or double down, as the Democrats would like to do).
The US government is the biggest inhibitor to growth.
?? That is pretty inaccurate. Countless reports show the US as the best or among the best business environment in the world. Some far right wing people clamor for lower corporate taxes, saying we have the highest corporate tax rate- well in reality, when including deductions and loop holes that businesses are able to take advantage of, we actually have one of the LOWEST effective corporate tax rates in the world. So what do we really want to do- charge no taxes at all on business? Companies are not moving operations overseas because they are mad they have to pay some taxes - they are moving work overseas where they still pay lots of corporate taxes but the difference is they are moving because they can pay less in salaries in poorer countries. How do we really compete with that? Do we want to race to the bottom, lowering pay here to compete???
Completely, totally inaccurate. The economy was not in great shape at all during Bush's 8 years in office. It was treading water and then completely crashing in his last year.
College is too expensive - when before people got the same product for less
Health care is too expensive - when before people got the same product for less (exceptions for some specific issues)
Wages are stagnant but we're working harder and longer
Housing in about half the metro areas of the country is spiraling upward well beyond wages.
There are seemingly 200 applicants for every decent job that exists out there. Some employers complain of a job shortage but it's because they want skill sets that are so damn specific no one can do it without going back and getting 6 years of school and then 3 years of entry level experience.
There is a general sense we're getting worse off as a country.
That's it.
Yes but Washington DC is doing very well, living in a bubble paid for by the American people.
And then.... "If you do become successful, the politicians convinced people (based on quid pro quo) to support funneling more money to gov instead of letting people keep their money and using your money to save and invest for your own future, to grow your business, hire more people, pay higher wages, spend more money on your family.
-- "I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage..."
-- "Obama.. keep him in president you know, he gave us a phone, he gonna give us more".
And they are playing people again, only this time they are using free school, student loans (quid pro quo). Obviously the people who bought the rhetoric can't think past their nose, is convinced they'll never make good money.
Yep, the political class was laughing at you while you struggled and they live the good life. I say that people deserve what they voted for... and they got it. That Quid pro quo isn't working out so well lol.
FREEEEEEEEEE! When will people learn, Free is very expensive!
The calculations for unemployment numbers are the same as they have always been- so if you think the numbers are highly inaccurate now, then they always have been- and with that in mind, a low unemployment number now means the same as a low unemployment number meant 20 years ago. It's all relative and still an accurate way to gauge the job market- and yes, with that in mind we are in good shape employment-wise. All you have to do is look around- companies everywhere are hiring, in many areas it's hare for them to find quality workers because workers have so many options now as opposed to 5 years ago when things were bleak as a job seeker.
And people are earning decent money again- the housing boom is a good example. Families are buying new homes like crazy- new cars are everywhere, I can't drive anywhere now, not even a short trip to the grocery store without seeing multiple new cars people have just purchased.
And in response to the OP, the national debt? That is not just Obama's fault, that is the fault of every president and congress from the current ones back through many previously.
Sorry to break this to you, but you are dead wrong when it comes to unemployment.
Kevin Phillips (former senior strategist for President Nixon but politically independent) wrote about the deliberate fudging of the unemployment numbers, GDP and the inflation/CPI awhile back:
Instead, since the 1960s, Washington has been forced to gull its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics: the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured. The effect, over the past twenty-five years, has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed.
And just FYI, those observations you see were the same ones made during the "Roaring '20s." We all know how that ended...
Last edited by Lycanmaster; 02-21-2016 at 02:56 PM..
China and India, and the entire ASEAN Region (which includes Australia and New Zealand). The hub of economic activity will eventually be centered on the Indian Ocean, with the US and Europe on the periphery... Asia is an investor's dream.
This may very well become true - eventually. But since 1998, investment in Asian markets has been a giant oscillation, without much cumulative gain. And I'm not even including the giant boat-anchor of Japan.
Paradoxically, for the entire run of the 21st century thus far, the US has been the least-worst neighborhood. Compare the cumulative returns of the S&P 500 with the Nikkei, DAX, Hang Seng and so forth... especially if in dollar-denominated terms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
If you had moved into the 5th Level Economy in the mid-1990s like you were supposed to do, then for every 10 manufacturing jobs lost, you'd gain 9 jobs in Research & Development.
Low level manufacturing is below your dignity.
The problem is that credible R&D requires good education and sophisticated brainpower. With enough motivation and cultural change, good education is possible. But what about brainpower? We can't have a society of physicists, engineers and poets; or even one of economists, marketing-specialists and lawyers. To paraphrase Huxley in the "Brave New World", we can't have a society of Alphas. We need more deltas and epsilon semi-morons.
Most people simply lack the intellectual capital to do much beyond rote, repetitive labor. This labor might be on the farm, in the factory, the deli aisle of the grocery store, or perhaps the travel-agency or the tax-prep office. But they're not going to work for Bell Labs or even the local third-rate tech startup. So if the only natural means of progress for an advanced "post industrial" society is to become a giant national research-park, then all such societies are doomed. It's not a lost opportunity on the part of the US; it's an impossible opportunity.
But the lack of smart people isn't the problem. In fact I see the opposite problem... we have too many PhDs, too many engineers and physicists and mathematicians. We have too many graduates from Caltech and Stanford and MIT, let alone Ohio State or Wright State University or whatever. It's not that the PhDs are unemployed or flipping burgers. It's that they're shuffling papers. There isn't enough need for new research, and we have a glut of persons with capacity to do research. And no, it's not a nativist call to curtail H1-B's (I'm an immigrant myself).
Most people want to be Middle Class. To me that means you can afford what you need and SOME of what you want. We no longer have enough jobs that pay enough money and provide those benefits. The jobs we do have do not pay enough to make a living.
But the lack of smart people isn't the problem. In fact I see the opposite problem... we have too many PhDs, too many engineers and physicists and mathematicians. We have too many graduates from Caltech and Stanford and MIT, let alone Ohio State or Wright State University or whatever. It's not that the PhDs are unemployed or flipping burgers. It's that they're shuffling papers. There isn't enough need for new research, and we have a glut of persons with capacity to do research. And no, it's not a nativist call to curtail H1-B's (I'm an immigrant myself).
It is an excess of (actually really sort of dumb) MBA Level Business Managers.
Yunno, the same type that do really dumb things like blow-up Space Shuttles.
Just giving that as a common known example. Many more of less known examples.
Really all joking aside -- the MBA track appeals to those who seek power over knowledge.
The MBAs tend to be put in charge of the Management, Business Decisions, and the Money, and you see the results.
Tends to be where "paper shuffling" and most other observed lunacy comes from.
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That Quid pro quo isn't working out so well lol.
