Now hiring...no interview necessary...just show up

I have an honest question for you, a question that I don't have the answer to.  I'm hoping you do.

Thankfully our economy is flying high.  Our official unemployment rate is around 4%, which I've always heard was considered "full employment".  Those final 4% who weren't employed (and perhaps that many more who weren't even looking) were often said to prefer welfare to a minimum wage job, couldn't pass a drug test, had a violent criminal history, etc, which made them "unemployable".

In my area (Dallas) there are "help wanted" signs everywhere you turn, especially in food service and retail.  In the construction field additional plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc, are desperately needed.  The same goes for the health care industry, too.

Now Congress has passed and the President has signed a tax cut bill hoping that many companies will plan major expansions and create millions of new jobs.  So far there have already been announcements by Intel, Apple, Amazon, and many more that they are now hiring.  Right now Amazon is looking for a location to build a second headquarters (what exactly is a second headquarters?) promising 50,000 jobs to the winning city....on and on.

The Trump administration is threatening to deport the "dreamers", kids who were brought here by their parents who entered the US illegally.  They say there are 800,000 dreamers who are here now in school, in the military, and working.  If those who are now employed are deported, that will mean even more job vacancies.

My question is now obvious.  Where are we going to find quality candidates to fill all the positions we already have, plus the new jobs being created, plus the vacancies created by dreamers (and others) leaving, plus normal job attrition?  

It sounds like we're already scraping the bottom of the employment pool barrel right now.  Isn't this likely to mean a wild bidding spree by employers, driving up wages and salaries for those willing to change jobs?  Good for employees, sure, but won't that also create serious inflationary pressures?

This reminds me of the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for."  It's truly a blessing to have this "problem", but please tell me, where are all these new workers going to come from?

S

Pragmatism 101

More of my Political Pragmatism series:

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has introduced a bill that seeks to allow those with pre-2010 student loans to refinance them at interest rates that are about half what they have now, going from in excess of 7% to 3.86%, the rate set by Congress several years ago for federal student loans.

Many economists, bankers, and others are now saying the average student loan....over $25K each, totaling $1.2 TRILLION dollars....is hampering economic growth.  And everyone agrees (or at least pays lip service) that an educated workforce is vital to our national health, now and even more so in the future.

Sen. Warren's bill died in the Senate when it failed to secure enough votes to stop a threatened Republican filibuster.  The sugar in the gas tank?  It was to be paid for with a higher tax on those making over $1M per year.

Meanwhile Bloomberg Business News reported this:  *stay with me here*

Using a tax shelter known as the "Double Irish" the most profitable tech company in America (the world?), Apple, is paying only a 2% tax rate on one of it's shadow companies that declares 60% of Apple's total profits.   

This subsidiary buys (on paper) all iPhones made in China, immediately sells them to another Apple subsidiary based in (low-tax) Singapore, then books the difference as Apples' profit.  Ireland's already-low 12.5% tax rate is massaged by their tax lawyers and eventually becomes a miniscule 2% rate (thanks to Irish tax loopholes, hence the "Double Irish").  This saves them BILLIONS of dollars in US taxes.

I don't blame Apple for doing this.  I blame an international system that ALLOWS it to happen.  Take this, multiply it by all the other international companies who are using smoke and mirrors to dodge their taxes, too, and you can imagine how much money we're leaving on the table.  

I know, I know....Businesses don't PAY taxes, they COLLECT taxes.  But as it is, consumers are paying the tax (in the price of their iPhone), but instead of it going to the treasury, it's going back to Apple's shareholders.

The liberal position:  Business is greedy.  The conservative position:  Taxes are too high.  Neither side can see past their own short term talking points.

My pragmatic position:  If we put an end to all these tax dodge shell games and just had a realistic modest corporate tax rate that could actually be collected, we would have the money to subsidize worthwhile things like reduced student loan rates.  

This would likely lead to a better educated, more competitive workforce, and some of those brainiacs just might be the ones to invent Apple's next iGizmo, making Apple and its shareholders even MORE money.

We used to call this "priming the pump".  Sometimes you've gotta spend a little more up front to make a lot more later on.  Win / win!

I know my example is overly simplistic, but the concept is sound.  Why can't anyone look a bit farther into the future and see it?

S

Boys and their toys

No, unfortunately I didn't realize my dream of owning a vintage Austin Healey or Alfa Romeo.  In my next life maybe, but it doesn't look too promising for this one.  What I did buy, though, was a new camera.

It's still just a point-and-shoot variety, but this one has a 30X optical zoom, 'cause, you know, sometimes a guy just has to zoom in on something 30 times.  :)

For a few years now I've used a simple pocket camera that has served me admirably:

To photograph cars at a car show or similar it's been great, and I'll still use it some, but recently I've wanted a photo of something that was just a bit out of range and I was dead in the water with this one.

I learned long ago that anything with much more than an on/off button is too complex for me.  Consumer Reports and lots of user reviews said this one was easy peasy.  Sold!  And so far the camera has been.  It's setting it up to connect (via Wifi) with my computer, iPad, iPhone, etc that has been a pain. 

The instructions just assume everyone starts out with at least an Associates Degree in Computer Technology.  They really shouldn't let a techie write the how-to instructions for a consumer electronic device....they can't think simple enough.  I finally had to call in my in-house IT guru (K) and she set me up.  Sort of.

Take a picture...press x button...wait for it...it connects to my computer...do this...do that...drag it here...on and on.  Finally, about 8 steps later I was able to produce a picture I could share on my blog.  Jeez, this is gonna take all day to download all my car pics.  

*OMG, what have I done?  Can I take it back?  Where's the box?*

But then, on my iMac, I did something (unknown) and suddenly a pop-up asked, "Do you want to download your pictures directly to iPhoto?"  

ABSO-FRICKIN'-LUTELY I DO!  (Apple to the rescue! :)

Bada Bing....now it works like a champ.  God does indeed look after idiots, drunks, and now the tech challenged, too.  :)

Have a great weekend everyone.  Stay warm.

S

Producers vs "hangers-on"

How many people do you see here actually working?

Have you ever stopped to think about all the jobs there are in this country, around the world even, that don't directly produce anything?

For example, there are people who mine the raw materials that go into making the steel and rubber and plastic that will eventually become a car.  Engineers add their smarts, some make the parts, and finally others screw it all together.

Eventually, waa laa....CAR!  All those people DIRECTLY add to the economy.  They PRODUCE something of value.  Same with the geeks at Apple.  They dream up things....they're part of the process....that eventually PRODUCES iPhones and iPads and such.

But along the way there exists a huge workforce comprised of what I call the "hangers-on".  They don't DO anything except watch the people who do the work.  

For example, the Human Resources folks don't produce anything, they just make sure you comply with all the rules imposed on you by other people who likewise don't produce anything.  (Full disclosure:  K works in HR.)  

I can understand a "safety officer", but why a "safety inspector" AND a "safety manager", too?  Why do we need layer upon layer of hangers-on watching workers work?  

Consultants are everywhere, many because they're just unemployed producers themselves.  Don't even get me started on the bean counters and their "generally accepted accounting pricnciples", which is code for "What do you want it to say?"  They can obfuscate anything.  

Yes, I know there is societal value in making sure polluters don't mess up our air or water, and to putting out fires and locking up criminals, even though you can't put a price on how much those jobs add to the economy.  But IMO too much time is spent making sure the file cabinets are full of cover-your-ass paperwork in case a lawyer (another large group of non-producers) comes along and wants to extort a few mil.  

By and large most hangers-on are simply necessary liabilities, not assets.  They take their paychecks and buy those cars and computers and TV's produced by others, and that's a good thing, but really they're just the "filler" in the economic smorgasbord, not the "entree".

Now don't get your knickers in a knot.  Before anyone gets their feelings hurt, know that I consider much of what I did for nearly 40 years was of the "filler" variety, too.  I'm just calling 'em as I see 'em.

Did you know my city has a guy whose job, one of them at least, is to go around and make sure all the construction site porta-potties are properly staked down per ordinance?  

In France there are laws that dictate how large the signs painted on store windows can be.  And field inspectors who go from store to store with tape measures to make sure all are in compliance.  How is that adding anything of value to the economy?

Remember the book Future Shock?  It mentions a time in the future when more and more of the work will be done by fewer and fewer of the people.  I think we've found that time is here right now.

S

You live by technology, you die by technology

Technology really kicked my ass yesterday.  My business email just vanished.  Pffffft!  I can't access my business website, and my email can't forward (link?) over to my personal email account.  I used to log in to my personal Yahoo account, then I could skip back and forth between the two emails....been doing it that way for years.

And I use my biz email as my "paper trail".  I have thousands of emails saved, available to refer back to if needed.  Where'd they go?  

K says they're on a cloud somewhere, but I have no idea which one.  So what am I supposed to do?  Call Google, Yahoo, Apple, Amazon, the NSA, etc and ask 'em if they have my stuff?  And if they do, I'm sure they're gonna want a password.  

"Sure, here's 50....let's try 'em all and see if one of them works."  I'll be "locked out" after the first 3 and have the FBI after me for suspicion of hacking.  DUH!

And on a non-technology matter, even dinner kicked my ass, too.  The little jingle on TV said, "Any footlong Subway sandwich....$5 all month long."  So I went to get K and me a footlong Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt for dinner last night.  They made it, toasted it, put on my toppings, wrapped it up, and then said, "That will be $7.75."  

"Umm....what happened to $5?"

She pointed to the small print on the bottom of the menu 15 feet up in the air, 30 feet behind the counter.  It said, "Any footlong except the Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt".  Those bastards!

Then back home I pulled up my ATT Uverse app on my iPad to check the TV schedule and it said I had no favorites saved.  Bullshit!  

It wants me to look through 800 channels just to find the 10 or so I actually watch?  I've been looking at it every evening for months.  I know I have them saved.  Where'd they go?  

Then I tried to log out and then back in, and it said it couldn't find the server.  It...couldn't...find...the...server?  How do you lose an entire $%^& server?  Aren't they the size of a refrigerator?

Is there some weird sunspot activity going on?  I mean, why me?  Why couldn't it smite Iran or North Korea or Cleveland?

*sigh*

S

Buy, Buy, Buy!

So I just have to ask....why are you sitting at your computer reading this when there is "stuff" still on store shelves that needs buying?  SLACKER!  

Black Friday has been officially declared a bust.  Sales were down 1.7% compared to last year.  The hope now is that CyberMonday sales can make up for it.  If not, the economies of the free world will collapse, and it will all be YOUR fault!

The statistics guys are trotting out one possible excuse for the poor sales numbers is that, because of the lateness of Thanksgiving this year, there are 6 fewer shopping days before Christmas.  So what?  Doesn't that just mean you're going to have to shop faster to buy everything you'll give to friends and family?  Are you going to just dump a few names from your list because you "ran out of time"?  Are you really going to pick family winners and losers?  Good luck with that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's something interesting I just heard:  If you're shopping online at, say, Amazon, and you don't complete your order and just abandon your "shopping cart", you're likely to receive an email from them a little later saying that shopping cart item has been miraculously reduced, "hurry, limited time only, act NOW!"  But oddly, people using an Apple computer are generally NOT extended as good of a cut rate price as someone using an old fashioned PC.  That's because Apple users are generally viewed as willing to pay more.  THOSE BASTARDS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thinking a bit deeper, this is what legitimately concerns me about our shopping habits today:  Our society wants a "deal" on everything we buy.  We seem to forget it's pretty much a "zero-sum" game....for every winner, there's also a loser.  For you to get your deal, someone else takes a hit.  

Sure, some things are getting cheaper because technology is improving, making them less expensive to produce.  But that's also likely to mean someone lost their job to a robot.  Or your neighbor lost his job to someone in China or Bangladesh.  Or someone took a pay cut in order to keep from being laid off.

You say "not my problem, I've got mine"?  But for how long?  If those are the people YOUR company is hoping to sell YOUR product to, and they are no longer able to buy what you're selling, well, it's a vicious race to the bottom.  That's one reason middle-class incomes have been stagnant for the past 20 years (after accounting for inflation).

I'm afraid the one thing Walmart and the other discounters have taught us how to do is shoot ourselves in the foot.  *sigh*

S  

If they drop this thing, is a "hard hat" really gonna do any good?

It looks like all the heavy lifting is complete on the new building going up just 3 blocks SW of our casa, so today they're taking down the big crane.  It's really fascinating to watch.  It's just like the erector set I had as a kid, only bigger.

I remember about a year ago I got up close and watched them take down the giant crane on the new building right next door.  I got to meet the project manager, and in fact he made me the jobsite Director of Sex and Music.  His exact words were, "If I want your fuckin' help, I'll whistle."  It was quite an honor.  :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you see this in the news last week?  A giant "oarfish" washed ashore on a beach in Southern California.  A second oarfish washed ashore this week, too.  Turns out this might not be such a good thing. 

It seems that according to an old myth giant oarfish have some kind of built-in seismic detectors which can predict earthquakes.  In fact, oarfish sightings were noticed off Chile and Haiti before their devastating earthquakes, and off Sendai, Japan in 2012 also.

Maybe this would be a good time for people who live near the Southern California fault line to....oh, I dunno....MOVE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like a lot of Apple-philes I downloaded the new iOS-7 system when it came out a few weeks ago.  Since then I've had all sorts of un-Apple-like things go wrong with both my iPad and my iPhone. 

Turns out I wasn't alone.  There have been lots of complaints, and yesterday Apple made available a new iOS-7 software update that will supposedly fix the problems.  I'm now current.  I'll keep you posted on whether it worked or not.

Enjoy your Hump Day, and watch where you step.   :)

S

  

It's International "Talk Like A Pirate" Day

So a pirate walks into a bar and says, "Aargh....gimme a rum."

The bartender says, "Yes sir, coming right up."  But then he notices the pirate has a ships wheel stuck in the front of his pants, sticking out over his belt.

So the bartender says, "Umm, excuse me Mr. Pirate, sir, but did you know you have a ships wheel stuck in the front of your pants?"

The pirate replied, "Aargh....it's drivin' me nuts!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you wiped your tech-savvy smile off your face yet?  Are you still giddy?  Were you too excited to sleep last night?

Me either.

Apple's long anticipated iOS7 system is finally here.  I think K was the first person in line to update her phone to eye-ohs 7.  She was floating on cloud 9 when she ran in to show it to me.

"Look...look!  Watch this.  The home screen....the background color is changed, and the icons have different designs.  It's SO much more colorful!"

"Yeah, and did you notice I'm wearing a new colored T-shirt?  Slick, huh?"

"Don't be a smart ass.  Check this....when you look in 'my photos', they're arranged BY DATE!"  *orgasmic shudder*

"Gee, you're right.  This is great!  I never realized how miserable I was when all my photos were just lumped in together."

Then she updated my phone with eye-ohs 7, too.

"Hey honey....how do you delete an email?  I swipe it to the right and it's still there."

"Try swiping it to the left."

"But my right thumb only swipes right.  It doesn't do left."

"Then use your left thumb, moron."

"But I'm hopelessly right handed.  My left thumb is sorta like my appendix....it just hangs there."

"It'll learn.  Maybe you can send it to one of those 'boot camps'."

I should Google that.

S

My wife and her gadgets

My wife, the lovely and talented K, is addicted to gadgets.   

Marketing courses at business schools all across the land teach how to appeal to people with her mentality.  They're studying her like psychologists study rats in a maze.  

"What classes you taking this semester, Bill?"  

"Oh, you know, the usual....B law 314, statistics 421, management 330, and Advanced Kelly 4540."

I have periodic garage sales just to get the gadgets she "couldn't live without" out of the house to make room for the next batch of gadgets I know she'll be bringing home soon.

She has waffle makers, panini makers, tea makers, mixers, food processors, crock pots, a "Magic Bullet" blender, some kind of big fancy blender, a mandolin, multiple coffee makers that were "to die for" last week, but this week are just not cool anymore.

These garage sales often come back to bite me in the ass when she sees an advertisement for a gizmo that she once had, then I sold, and now she wants again.  She's gone full circle....she's become a serial same-gadget buyer.  

I tolerate all those kitcheny things because, honestly, I eat very well.  And besides, they're not very expensive....$40 here, $60 there....they're not breaking the bank.

Kelly's vision of Heaven

Her electronic gadgets are a whole 'nuther matter, however.  Those little electronic bastards cost a fortune!  Here are the ones she's had that I can remember:

HP laptop

HP NetBook

iMac (mine now)

MacBook

Nintendo Wii

Kindle, generation 1

Kindle, generation 2

Kindle Paperwhite

Kindle Fire

Google Nexxus

Samsung Galaxy S2

iPod Shuffle

iPod Nano

iPad, generation 1

iPad Mini

iPhone 3

iPhone 3S

iPhone 5

There are probably more, but my brain is too shell-shocked to remember them all.

Today she saw on Facebook that one of her friends accidentally washed his iPod Nano, so she said she was going to sell him her old one.  I can see what's coming next:  She bought it for $160 a month ago, now she'll sell it used for $80, and a month from now Apple will unveil a "new, improved version in 10 striking new colors", and of course she'll just have to have one for the pre-order super-sweet "better hurry 'cause they won't last long at this price" of $180. 

Publicly Apple will say the higher price is due to "raw material price increases", but among themselves they'll just giggle and call it the "Kelly premium".

I'm considering an intervention.  (Who am I kidding.  I don't have a chance in hell of pulling it off.  :)

S

Is it Apple or Ipple?

I see that Apple is announcing a new upgrade to it's operating system, iOS7.  I know geeks everywhere are in a near orgasmic state over this news, but the Perpetual Neanderthal (me) is not impressed.  I'm just getting used to how my Apple devices work (yeah, I'm  a slow learner) and now they're gonna change them?  *sigh*  As long as they don't mess with its intuitiveness I'll be OK.

Question of the day:  Why does Apple call all their stuff "i"?  It's Apple, not Ipple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scandal around the NSA contractor who revealed the gubment was doing across-the-board phone and internet surveillance on us keeps growing.  I must admit I'm pretty conflicted about it.  On the one hand I want the Federales to keep a close eye on potential terrorists living among us, but it seems to me they're casting much too broad a dragnet.

Did you know there are over 800,000 civilians (contractors) who have the top-secret clearance to see this sort of stuff?  This fella Snowden said he had it within his scope of authority to listen in or read anyone's email.  This is the exact opposite what gubment officials are telling us. 

Think about it.  Do you really believe none of the 800,000 snoops on the payroll wouldn't be even a little tempted to listen in to an old girlfriend's conversation, or what was being emailed back and forth between Brad and Angelina?  I can't imagine 800,000 people, or even 800 people, who would be that disciplined.

I'm afraid I have to agree with those who say our government has overstepped propriety.  I say there needs to be at least some connection between a possible national security threat and invasive snooping.

Opposing views welcome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This reminds me of a story a friend told me from back in his days as a marketing rep for a company that sold high-end communications equipment, the kind used on government aircraft for secure communications.  

He was in Bulgaria (?) to bid on a system for their executive aircraft.  He called HQ one evening from his hotel room to let them know how negotiations were going.  He commented, "I really don't think we have a chance.  These guys have close ties with other former eastern European allies and will probably choose one of their companies."

The next day at breakfast a Bulgarian negotiator stepped up to my friend and very stiffly announced, "I want you to know that you do have a fair chance to get this contract, and that we will not necessarily choose a company from one of our former eastern European allies."

Haha!  Busted!

S

What's the point?

This is pretty cool:  In the paper today was a story about a guy in Montana that makes iPad, iMac, and iPhone accessories out of wood.  It seems pine beetles had killed 10,000 trees on his family's property and he was trying to figure out what to do with the dead trees.   He came up with "Bad Beetle".

Before it rots into mush the wood is salvaged and "re-purposed" into these attractive cases and stands.

If I was into fancy cases and such I'd probably get one myself.  But here's what I don't get:  Apple, Samsung and all the rest spend billions of dollars to miniaturize their devices, right?  It's a HUGE deal when they can make a case .02 of an inch thinner.  It gives them massive bragging rights and they can charge a few bucks more....image is everything.

Then we buy these gadgets and before we leave the store buy fashion cases the size of a small paperback book.  Or worse....

I guess that's supposed to be a bar of chocolate?

Is this really an iPhone case?  For mom or the kid?

What's the point in making them a silly millimeter smaller if we're gonna wrap 'em in huge cases?  My iPhone case is just a thin sticky type of rubber, and that's only because I'm too butterfingered to hold on to the slick glass and chrome case it comes with straight out of the box.  And I'm cheap.

S

There's hope for me yet

According to an article I read in Fortune magazine I should be a corporate CEO or top-tier engineer or scientist, or maybe a general or admiral.

Fortune quoted a study titled "A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations" which claims when an organization has too many smart people they tend to argue among themselves about who has the best ideas and actually get less done because they can't decide on a course of action.  

Stupidity on the other hand has a unifying effect....it boosted productivity.  People content in an atmosphere of functional stupidity came to a consensus more easily and had greater "roll-up-our-sleeves" enthusiasm to get the job done.

Well, anyone who knows me knows I live in an atmosphere of functional stupidity.  Much of it comes from me, but I have no shortage of stupid friends, too.  According to this theory I shouldn't just HAVE an iPhone, I should OWN Apple.  All of it....mine!

Uber-smart people get bored with work easily and lose interest.  Stupid people who have had to work hard all their lives to get just the simplest chore done know the value of diligence.  Imagine learning to tie your shoes:  The smart kids picked it up easily, the stupid ones invented Velcro.

And look at NASA....they spent years and millions of dollars to invent a pen that could write upside down and in zero-gravity.  The Rooskies just used a pencil.  OK, bad example.

Speaking of rocket scientists, look at the Duck Dynasty boyz:

They AREN'T.  But they ARE rich! 

So carrying this analogy through to its logical conclusion, these are without doubt the SMARTEST people in the country world universe:

We need you Alfred E. Neuman!  ;)

S

"Mr. Watson, come here."

These were reportedly the first words Alexander Graham Bell spoke into his new invention, the "tele-phone", back on March 10, 1876.  As I've read that Mr. Bell was quite a player back in his day, I'm guessing when Watson showed up he said, "Check this out, bro.  I took it with me to The Watering Hole last night....chick magnet! "

In 1966 I was in the AT&T pavilion at Disney Land where the demonstrator lady held up "the phone of the future" and asked, "see anything unusual about it?"  It had NO WIRES!  Whoa!

Fast forward to April 3, 1973.  One Mr. Marty Cooper, a techie at Motorola, called his buddy Joel Engle, another techie working for AT&T, and said, "Suck it Engle.  I'm calling from the world's first completely portable mobile phone.  It's gonna be a real chick magnet.  I win."

And that's where it all began.

As I recall the first dilemma was whether to get a bag phone with more power and better range....

....or a less powerful but much cooler looking brick phone.

I remember my friend Jim Williams had a very early mobile phone installed in his truck.  It had a box the size of a computer tower (remember computer towers?) behind the seat, an antennae on top of the cab, and a handset....with a cord.  He was considered a complete nerd in his day.  And a rich nerd because it cost over 2 Grand.

I was a late bloomer.  I didn't get my first cell phone until the early 90's as best I can remember.  It looked something like this:

I remember I had it about a week before I ever talked on it because I was afraid of going over my minutes.  I would pull it out and show friends, flip it open and show off the lighted keypad, then very carefully replace it in it's belt-mounted case.  Smokin' hot!

I especially liked it when my wife called me when I was at the grocery store and told me to get such-and-such while I was there.  This was significant because she once called the office at Tom Thumb (the grocery store) and asked them to get word to me to pick up something she remembered she needed.  

They fired up their PA system and announced, "Customer Scott Park....customer Scott Park....your wife wants you to get some butter and some cream cheese, too."  (True story!)  I couldn't find a hole deep enough to crawl into and hide.

Here it is today 40 years (this week) after Marty called his buddy and razzed him, and now there are six billion cell phones in the world.  I was wondering how that could be as there are only six billion people in the world, but then I saw this....

and this....

....so I guess it's possible.

Then came the smart phone duel between Steve Jobs and Kimchee Samsung*.  I have an ancient iPhone4, while K has a Samsung Galaxy #?.  She says hers is better, but I'm used to Apple and afraid of change.  The new Samsung is out now and Apple's next new version is expected to be out as soon as June.  And I'm due an upgrade.  Decisions, decisions.

See what you've done Marty?

S

*Not his real first name, but it was the only other Korean word I knew.