Category Archives: Employment

Do I Have Brilliant Ideas on Helping the Econony or No?

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I’m tired of reading about people who are successfully in life or Actors putting forth their believes and ideas on topics that they haven’t lived or even researched.  I’m tired how the successful tell us all what to do, but don’t do it themselves (surely you know of an actor/actress that has a hummer or large SUV that complains about global warming).  Now I could rant and rave about this until I’m blue in the face, but looking like a smurf doesn’t really fix anything, does it…?

So here are my ideas that might be use for helping the economy today in the United States.

Idea 1.)  Instead of giving countries financial aid for free, why not invest in them instead?  That way it’s a win-win!  They benefit and United States benefits if the foreign countries thrive.

Idea 2.)  Why not have an extra taxes paid line on the income taxes form?  That way the liberal rich (or Warren Buffett) and actors/actresses that continually try to increase my taxes can put their money where their mouths are while leaving us alone!  Shoot perhaps the government could even have a wall of gratitude on their website to identify and thank the top above and beyond contributors.

Idea 3.)  This one might sound a bit off, but perhaps we should consider lowering the maximum contribution limit for retirement accounts or at least hold them steady for a few years.  Yeah, sounds like I went nuts huh.  But if tax collection is the goal of the current administration, reducing the contributions amounts would mainly those more able to contribute more to such plans.  Logically, such a change would be an indirect tax on those more wealthy that are able to afford to contribute the higher contribution amounts.  This would suck for me, but it’s still a viable option.  I think if the white house wants to get more “tax revenue” (I hate calling tax collection REVENUE…) then this is a viable way to do it in my opinion.

Idea 4.)  Perhaps social programs should be more of a forgivable debt?  Then those that do beat their social class and become millionaires could pay back some of the taxpayer’s monies?

Idea 5.)  The government should really review the wage inequality between countries.  Paying someone overseas only $1 in US currency while someone in the US get’s paid $20 for the same type of work is a pretty big incentive to move a lot of stuff offshore.  This is probably a lot more complex that I can imagine, but if a company that moves offshore charges $2 for a production vs $21 for the same product, and the products are identical or close to identical, which price are you willing to pay for it at Walmarts?

Okay, the ideas above are just a quick attempt at some ideas that might help the economy.  I fully admit, they are simplistic the way I present them, but still interesting, no?

Bests,

Don

 

Why Unemployment Is Likely To Be Higher Than In The Past 50 years

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I hate to burst everybody’s bubble, but the workers of the United States aren’t really any more valuable than the workers in other countries where the labor is 10 times as cheap.

Everybody acts surprised that unemployment is so high, but we’ve had a jobless recover after 911 too.  I’m not going to go into obvious causes of unemployment, if you are interested in those causes, check out this great Wikipedia article on Unemployment, it covers most of the past points quite adequately.  Instead, I’m going to give a shout out to Michael Porter and his list of the reasons that unemployment is still high.  I was fortunate enough to be watching CNBC when he came on and started talking about the reasons that unemployment is so high.  To be honest, CNBC was on as background noise while I was working, but then Harvard economist Michael Porter started listing his reasons why unemployment is still high, and I was floored.  The reasons he listed was practically identical to my thoughts.  I finally found an economist that I agree with!  I had to pinch myself to make sure I was awake!

Young Digerati?

Young Digerati?

Everything the Harvard economist said was spot on, at least in the next 10 to 20 years.  But eventually I think that automation, robotics and other smart machines will tighten employment again in the future (20 years… if not sooner).   I’ve written about job loss to technology before, but I kept it light.  Today I’m going to list the reasons why I think technology will start to eat away at human labor opportunities.

  1. Robots are becoming smarter and faster.  Robots use to be just toys that kids loved (including me).  But these days scientists are working on smart robots… These robots are aware of their surroundings and can adjust accordingly.  Robots (like industrial robots) didn’t have that type of awareness previously.  Cars, and more sophisticated machine will be transporting us without our involvement, at least 90% of the time.  I wonder if in the future, some type of high-speed transportation (that goes 200+ miles per hour) will exist were we just dock our vehicles on the “train” cars and then the “smart train” takes us to our destinations.  I can see it practically being totally automated, including the financial transactions.  The computer automated car (or is it really a smart robot too?), will schedule a position on the train car and the entire process could be automated, including getting off of the train.  Perhaps the train will be in a bubble tunnel or in an underground system of some sort?  Think of fast food restaurants with no humans working at it… Think it’s not possible?  I think it is.  Perhaps in the not to distant future, doctors will be replace by universal doctoring systems, perhaps even surgeries too.  Human doctors are limited by when the currently know, and what they are willing to learn.  A smart robot could tap into some kind of database for all of the newest approaches towards helping people.  Not to mention that they can do testing practically instantly on patients.  I can go on and on about this, but time is limited so I’ll stop here.
  2. People in other countries (especially Asian) are just as smart (if not smarter) than the people in our country, and they work just as hard (if not harder).  Yeah, transportation costs would be a limiting feature of business going overseas for labor if it wasn’t for the trend where labor overseas is considerably cheaper!  How much cheaper, in some cases over 5 and sometimes 10 times as cheap!  So the average worker in the US make $20 per hour, well in China, the overage wage per hour is $2 (and in other places even less).  This is temporary though, because China has come a long way in the past 10 years, and I expect them to continue to prosper and wages to continually increase.  In fact, I’m more worried about automation and robotization taking over future jobs.
  3. Not all people are book smart or have the desire to continually learn new things.  There are a lot of people who don’t want extra education.  The common answer to job security is education for everybody in the US, but some people would rather work with their hands.  I know plenty of people as smart as I am or smarter that work with their hands instead of living in cubicle-ville.
  4. Business need to be competitive or they die.  If you have two businesses, one in the US, and one in China and they both make the same product, if the US company only employs labor in the US, that US company is doomed to fail.  The cost of the product made in China will be much cheaper and bought over the US companies product.  So if the US company doesn’t hire overseas labor, they is a very high chance that they will go out of business.  Look at Walmart and what they sell, and where their products come from.  While Walmart doesn’t have anything against the Chinese, don’t you think that they would prefer to buy cheap products in the US instead?

So while the government does silly little things like raising the minimum wage which will make it harder for my son to get a job in the very near future, the real problem of the United States and our ability to compete with a offshore, highly trained, and very competent labor force will continue to grow ignored.  I guess if they wait long enough, smart robots will bring the jobs back to the United States eventually and the entire matter will be moot by then.

Sorry for the grim take on matters, notice that I didn’t even mention “under” employment!  That will be a conversation for another day.

Don

 

A Look At Hourly versus Salaried Employment

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Some changes in my employer’s industry has changed my job’s employment type from salary to hourly.

While my manager said he would try to get me promoted as quickly as possible to the salary grade level, I don’t know if I want it.  After experiencing the perks that I’m experiencing as an hourly employee, it might not be worth it, here is why:

  • At a salaried employee, I wouldn’t get paid to work anything over 8 hour like I would sometimes have to do.  As an hourly person I get time and a half to work those days.  This turns out to be excellent money.  Now instead of avoiding working those days, I consider them a financial windfall and a great opportunity!
  • I no longer have to be on-call!  The reason is because I would get paid like I was working a regular workday.  So again this would be big money, sign me up!
  • When traveling for work, Saturday and Sunday are now considered paid time too.  Awesome!
  • My weekends are now a pleasure again!  My employer can’t call me without me getting paid so now I can go to movies and attend other social events without being interrupted.
  • The dreaded electronic leash (company cell phone) can now stay at home, and even turned off!  Shoot, I can even leave it at work if I want to (but I don’t leave it at work, I want it in case they call me since it’s an overtime opportunity).
  • If I work over my eight hours on a given day, I get paid for it!
  • Family time is pressure free and much more enjoyable!

I know this doesn’t seem obvious, but I would much rather be an hourly employee than a salaried employee… especially now that I have experienced both!  I truly no longer feel like a corporate slave (or serf, or indentured servant), it’s been a liberating experience…

I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that hourly employment could end up creating a better lifestyle, I know I didn’t…  It was a very pleasant surprise!

Cheers,

MR

 

Are You Afraid To Work?

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After I grew out of my teenage years, I started to become afraid to work!!!

Oh, I wasn’t afraid to work a respectable job, but I would no longer consider working at jobs that I thought I was too mature for, or too girly, or just plain beneath me as a young adult!

I passed plenty of interesting jobs because of the way that I thought.  I worried about how I would be perceived if one of my peers saw me.  In some ways, I was embarrassed to work such jobs because I didn’t want people to think that I was desperate and would do anything for money! 

I was so afraid to do work that wasn’t traditional, that I wouldn’t take any job that wasn’t something that I considered normal and respectable!  This was incredibly wasteful of me, and I’m embarrassed to say that I was too timid to pursue any ideas that I had to innovate or come up with an original ideas to make money.

So what ideas did I have that I was too afraid to work at, you might be asking?

One such idea was a Lawn Mower Artist!  I always thought it would be cool to offer a lawn mowing service that through the use of fertilizers and cutting lawns at different heights could create different pictures in potential client’s lawns.

As a test, I once carved the batman symbol in the grass at my parent’s house,  just to see what it would look like… (it looked awesome by the way).

But the same technique could be used to carve a football, soccer ball, family name, and even more complex visuals!

Now I look back and wish I had tried creating such businesses when I was a young adult with more time on my hands.  I think it could have been at least a little bit of money, and a lot of fun!

Do you know what I mean by being afraid to work?  Hopefully it was just me…

-MR