The Alternative Career Path

A pick-me-up for people interested in alternative career paths.  Joe Rogan reminds us that there are options outside of the established/mainstream job options.

It could even be argued that alternative careers pursued by thinkers and technological innovators are more important than the pre-conceived options you were presented with in school.

Women in America are Doing Quite Well

Girls and women in America are doing quite well according to research published by Diana Furchtgott-Roth.  

She explains her conclusion in this video from C-SPAN.  


*Ms. Furchtgott-Roth is the author of Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women In America

How Does $15/Hour Minimum Wage Help the Unemployed?

Robert Reich makes a case in this video for $15/hour minimum wage legislation.   

Reich, a current government employee and former government bureaucrat focuses on current low-paid employees and employers.  The major problem with framing the argument this way is that he totally omits the people most in need of income, the unemployed.

Question for Professor Reich:

How are the people unable to procure a job in today's $7.25 minimum wage environment going to find work at the much higher $15 level?

Humpday Humor: Government Jobs

"The government should be fired for creating any jobs."

-Joe Rogan

Check out Joe Rogan's podcasts here.

Microsoft's Highly Profitable Layoffs

In July Microsoft announced intentions to layoff 14% of it's global workforce.  This equates to 18,000 employee pink slips.

Since then:

1. The company increased shareholder dividend payments by 11% 
2. Wall street has boosted it's total stock market value by 7%  
3. Steve Ballmer* and Bill Gates equity holdings gained $2,019,000,000

"I Knew I'd Make That $2 Billion Back Somehow",
Steve Ballmer thought to himself

The software giant has accomplished all this just halfway through the layoff binge.  Just imagine how profitable it will be when thousands more of their people are shown the door.


*Ballmer bought the NBA franchise Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion this summer.  Since he purchased the team, the value of his stock in Microsoft increased $1 billion. 

A $25 Minimum Wage?

The Swiss people will vote next month on a measure to increase the minimum wage in Switzerland to 22 francs/hour (~$25 US).  Of course the trade unions are chief lobbyists for the higher minimum wage.  These legal statutes backed by threat of violence ensures that cheaper labor is literally unemployable leaving current job holders with less competition.

As the overall pool of employable labor decreases total human production also falls.  This leaves everyone with fewer choices of goods and services (essentially creating more poor people).  Taken to the extreme if the minimum wage was 100 francs per hour would total production of goods in Switzerland increase or decrease?  

In response to the proposal George Sheldon, professor of economics at the University of Basel said:

“Unemployment among the unskilled is increasing,”...“The solution to their problem can’t be to make them more expensive.” 

Sheldon is inquiring about the plight of the currently unemployed.  These folks are simply ignored by the supporters of minimum wage statutes.

More of the story at Bloomberg.