These economic times

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Fez Hammersticks

スーパーバッド Zero Cool
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
29,195
Likes
9,891
Points
113
My former boss, who's 37, is going to college for the first time to get a degree in a totally different field.

Is this becoming common?
 
I thnik it will take more time than the national average for the Ptd ecomony to turn around.

I predict we will start seeing changes in the economic situation here in early 2011 . . . by that I mean more job opening and people can stop looking to other feilds to find a job.
 
This is our third jobless recovery in a row. Each time our natural unemployment rate increases. Unless some kind of revolutionary (as opposed to evolutionary) private sector innovation occurs, don't expect the recovery to offer much help in terms of employment.
 
This is our third jobless recovery in a row. Each time our natural unemployment rate increases. Unless some kind of revolutionary (as opposed to evolutionary) private sector innovation occurs, don't expect the recovery to offer much help in terms of employment.

Renewable energy? High Speed Rail System? 3D TVs? 323 Terabit Routers? What is it? What is the next revolutionary innovation? I want to get in on the ground floor!!
 
My wife works in the energy industry - my gut feeling is that this is where it will be. They seem to be experiencing explosive growth.

Might not even be renewable energy - just good old efficiency improvements - this country uses energy in a very inefficient way - there is so much more that can be done there - much like the way we have seen our manufacturing and services industries go through efficiency revolution in the 90s.
 
My wife works in the energy industry - my gut feeling is that this is where it will be. They seem to be experiencing explosive growth.

Might not even be renewable energy - just good old efficiency improvements - this country uses energy in a very inefficient way - there is so much more that can be done there - much like the way we have seen our manufacturing and services industries go through efficiency revolution in the 90s.

I agree that the potential for some real growth fields are there. But taxes, unions, and other governmantal policies really prevent growth.
 
I agree that the potential for some real growth fields are there. But taxes, unions, and other governmantal policies really prevent growth.

I am far from an expert on this subject - but it is clear that this area is super-regulated - so a lot of the efficiency can come from deregulation or smarter regulation/laws/taxes. Is it going to happen? I do not know - but it seems that if there is one sector where the Obama administration seems to actually act upon - is this. It is still a big effing mess - but the impression I get hearing from the peripheral position I am in - is that it is better than it was before - so, maybe it will happen.

Again, I am no expert - what I have seen, however, is that there seems to be amazing growth in this area in the last 3 or 4 years my wife has been involved in it. Reminds me a lot of the early days of the internet boom in the mid-90s - where you join a company with 25 people and 4 years later they have 300 employees and are poised to grow more.

Of course, there is a good chance some of it will go bust after a while - often happens - but it seems to me that this country is still so inefficient in it's energy use - that there is at least 5 more years of unhindered growth unless some stupid laws come into action to stop it - I would also argue that the tight regulation might help avoid a dot-com like crash - where people were pouring stupid money into goldfish.com (*) - because it was a wild wild west with no rules and regulations...

(*) - I do not actually talk about goldfish.com which apparently takes you to a banking site in the UK (WTF?) - but stupid things like that where people poured money into questionable business because they had a nice domain name (webvan, pets.com).
 
Last edited:
I agree that the potential for some real growth fields are there. But taxes, unions, and other governmantal policies really prevent growth.

Enron is a great example of how deregulation works!

Just kidding but the big picture of our energy policy should be set and enforced by the federal government. Most utility companies would rather raise rates to cover losses through inefficiency of energy production and transmission vs improving the energy grid.
 
My former boss, who's 37, is going to college for the first time to get a degree in a totally different field.

Is this becoming common?

Dot com/tech?


I know a lot of people doing 180s...going back to school...grad school, dentistry, etc.
 
Renewable and Natural Energy is a big scam. Sure its great to be able to do it, but in industrialized nations its just expensive, inefficient and putting a bunch of money won't do shit. Money is in oil and nuclear energy still. Not wind and solar garbage...all the tree huggers want you to believe otherwise, but its ALWAYS going to be "alternative" energy.
 
Absolutely you need to keep educating yourself and change with the times. If I was looking at changing careers I would probably look at something in health care. I know after 9/11 a lot of people dropped jobs and switch to doing stuff with real estate to make money... and that worked for awhile but I bet they are looking for jobs again now. =) I not trying to make a joke... but I also think social work would be a good bet... my wife is a social worker and she gets mail from government all the time trying to pry her away... I assume to help handle issues with vets returning from war.

I am still employed thank God... but I was thinking last night at I might get Masters in teaching just as a fallback... or maybe even to add a little extra income with night classes.
 
Enron is a great example of how deregulation works!

Just kidding but the big picture of our energy policy should be set and enforced by the federal government. Most utility companies would rather raise rates to cover losses through inefficiency of energy production and transmission vs improving the energy grid.

Enron is the product of reregulation in their favor.

http://reason.com/archives/2001/01/04/california-scheming
 
If you want to guess where the next big boom is, look to demand. People wanted to buy stuff online, thus the internet boom. People wanted to own their own houses (and rentals, and vacation homes), thus the housing boom.

Most of the wealth in this country is held by people over 50. Those old fucks want to live longer, lose weight and get more erections. A lot of stuff is coming down the pipeline to do that, but it takes people to make it happen. My guess is the next big boom is in health care.

Anyway, it seems like everyone I know is going back to school or starting a small business. Makes sense. If you can't get a job and you want to do something so your resume doesn't have massive craters in it, those are your choices.
 
If you want to guess where the next big boom is, look to demand. People wanted to buy stuff online, thus the internet boom. People wanted to own their own houses (and rentals, and vacation homes), thus the housing boom.

Most of the wealth in this country is held by people over 50. Those old fucks want to live longer, lose weight and get more erections. My guess is the next big boom is in health care.

Anyway, it seems like everyone I know is going back to school or starting a small business. Makes sense. If you can't get a job and you want to do something so your resume doesn't have massive craters in it, those are your choices.

correct.

At work we're looking at starting home health care facilities now out of foreclosed housing. we'll see how that goes. interesting thought though to take advantage of things.
 
Also a lot of businesses are looking to cut labor costs. How does that happen? Outsourcing. True it kind of kills jobs but if you're the one outsourcing, then you make the money.
 
other growth industries:

1. Entertainment field will be good.

2. User generated content competing with major corporations (news, television, blogs, etc)

3. scamming the growing government out of money.
 
Again, think of industries that will grow the economy in new ways. Computers and the internet drove growth since the 80s. Those two developments disintermediated the value chain, allowing companies to free up back office duties and making the link between manufacturer and consumer more direct. The growth in the 2000's was a shell game. Financial innovation will only get you so far. Real estate--while creating weath and some temporary jobs--wasn't a real growth driver. It was a wealth transfer and a temporary job creator. Eventually, you run out of population that needs homes and businesses that need space.

What I'm talking about is something revolutionary. We need to produce something in this country again. We can't just be a service society. "Green jobs" are a scam. So, what's next? Crap like wind, solar, blah, blah, blah may make our environment cleaner, but do we need more energy? Not so much that it can't be satisfied with coal and natural gas--which we have in abundance. We need "the next thing" the way computers transitioned us from heavy industry. I don't know what that "next thing" is.
 
Again, think of industries that will grow the economy in new ways. Computers and the internet drove growth since the 80s. Those two developments disintermediated the value chain, allowing companies to free up back office duties and making the link between manufacturer and consumer more direct. The growth in the 2000's was a shell game. Financial innovation will only get you so far. Real estate--while creating weath and some temporary jobs--wasn't a real growth driver. It was a wealth transfer and a temporary job creator. Eventually, you run out of population that needs homes and businesses that need space.

What I'm talking about is something revolutionary. We need to produce something in this country again. We can't just be a service society. "Green jobs" are a scam. So, what's next? Crap like wind, solar, blah, blah, blah may make our environment cleaner, but do we need more energy? Not so much that it can't be satisfied with coal and natural gas--which we have in abundance. We need "the next thing" the way computers transitioned us from heavy industry. I don't know what that "next thing" is.

Nanotechnology.
Artificial Intelligence.

I think there is a real growth potential in medicine, especially research, extending life, making new drugs, etc. Stem Cell research is one facet of this, but there are other, less political and more valuable therapies not being adequately explored. Only problem is that much of this is seen as being "evil" if its profit-driven. And if you can't protect a company's intellectual property, there is no incentive to innovate.

This is the next wave...but unfortunately its not going to happen for a while given the current climate.
 
Again, think of industries that will grow the economy in new ways. Computers and the internet drove growth since the 80s. Those two developments disintermediated the value chain, allowing companies to free up back office duties and making the link between manufacturer and consumer more direct. The growth in the 2000's was a shell game. Financial innovation will only get you so far. Real estate--while creating weath and some temporary jobs--wasn't a real growth driver. It was a wealth transfer and a temporary job creator. Eventually, you run out of population that needs homes and businesses that need space.

What I'm talking about is something revolutionary. We need to produce something in this country again. We can't just be a service society. "Green jobs" are a scam. So, what's next? Crap like wind, solar, blah, blah, blah may make our environment cleaner, but do we need more energy? Not so much that it can't be satisfied with coal and natural gas--which we have in abundance.

I pretty much agree with most of what you wrote, although I certainly don't think "green jobs are a scam." My city just started doing curbside recycling, resulting in quite a few new green jobs. My employer is quoting on multimillion dollar car projects with three different manufacturers for green applications (electric cars, remanufacturing). I dropped $500 to beef up insulation in my attic a few months ago. We're moving away from incandescent bulbs. All of this stuff, and a lot more, demonstrate pretty clearly that a ton of industries are making pretty radical changes toward adding "green jobs."

I suppose you could argue that many of the changes I cite are government imposed, but guess what? The government policies pretty much reflect popular opinion.

Is green energy production a scam? Is all the money going into those sectors an utter waste? I kind of doubt it, but I don't know. The real issue is that there's only so much money people have to spend on electricity.

It's like telecommunications. People don't really spend any more money to talk on phones now than they did in 1985. It's just that they pay cell providers and sometimes cable companies and sometimes Skype instead of just one phone company. Most of that business has been reshuffled over all these years, but I bet the net number of employees working to deliver phone service hasn't changed that much since that time.

Similarly, energy production might get reshuffled, but I wonder how much new business will emerge at the direct expense of older energy companies, with no net difference in employees.

We need "the next thing" the way computers transitioned us from heavy industry. I don't know what that "next thing" is.

I really think it's going to be all about extending human life. Making people live longer and healthier lives. I just can't think of anything that has more universal interest and potential profitability.
 
you would think so, but nowadays, its just more about how to make people make themselves feel more important than they actually are!
 
The next big thing is robots, which will replace everyone in the service industry. Think of it, walk into a fast food joint, the server-robot says in a nice warm voice "what can I do for you today?". And you say, I'd like a burger, and I'd like you to suck my dick while I eat. And the she-robot says "yes sir!" and does just that.

Then she goes in the back and removes her disposable oral cavity, drops it in the trash, and inserts a new one.

And yes, she'll be powered by green energy. No one wants a coal-fired blowjob.

barfo
 
So I have a few thoughts to add to the various things mentioned. One: renewable energy I think about the most is blue-green algae making biodiesel. Look it up, I'm lazy and have mentioned it before here I believe. What is good about reshuffling of the jobs in energy? It can be done in the usa instead of the middle east getting our oil money. We can have electric cars for the small stuff and biodiesel for the big stuff. The electricity can come from cleaner sources and if it must be coal, you can immediately recapture the CO2 to make, guess what! green algae biodiesel! [video=youtube;EnOSnJJSP5c]"]

as far as medical research goes, there have been significant advances in creating stem cells out of regular cells. it's not perfect yet, but it's getting there. And Cord-blood/placenta, is becoming quite useful!

Nano-technology is a pretty vague term, especially since microchips are already on the nano-scale.
Robots already make our cars, but yes the service robots will be here soon.
[video=youtube;7KaZ_YrYUrw]"]
 
The next big thing is robots, which will replace everyone in the service industry. Think of it, walk into a fast food joint, the server-robot says in a nice warm voice "what can I do for you today?". And you say, I'd like a burger, and I'd like you to suck my dick while I eat. And the she-robot says "yes sir!" and does just that.

Then she goes in the back and removes her disposable oral cavity, drops it in the trash, and inserts a new one.

And yes, she'll be powered by green energy. No one wants a coal-fired blowjob.

barfo
lolol
 
The next big thing is robots, which will replace everyone in the service industry. Think of it, walk into a fast food joint, the server-robot says in a nice warm voice "what can I do for you today?". And you say, I'd like a burger, and I'd like you to suck my dick while I eat. And the she-robot says "yes sir!" and does just that.

Then she goes in the back and removes her disposable oral cavity, drops it in the trash, and inserts a new one.

And yes, she'll be powered by green energy. No one wants a coal-fired blowjob.

barfo


It'd be awesome if she dispensed condiments out of her fingers. So if you wanted more mustard, she'd just point at your burger, you'd take off the top bun, and she'd zap it with just the right amount.

Also she has to do anal.
 
I pretty much agree with most of what you wrote, although I certainly don't think "green jobs are a scam." My city just started doing curbside recycling, resulting in quite a few new green jobs. My employer is quoting on multimillion dollar car projects with three different manufacturers for green applications (electric cars, remanufacturing). I dropped $500 to beef up insulation in my attic a few months ago. We're moving away from incandescent bulbs. All of this stuff, and a lot more, demonstrate pretty clearly that a ton of industries are making pretty radical changes toward adding "green jobs."

I suppose you could argue that many of the changes I cite are government imposed, but guess what? The government policies pretty much reflect popular opinion.

Is green energy production a scam? Is all the money going into those sectors an utter waste? I kind of doubt it, but I don't know. The real issue is that there's only so much money people have to spend on electricity.

The reason I call it a "scam" is that it's making us pay for something we already have. It's transferring businesses, not creating new ones. For example, you get LED and flourescent light bulb manufacturers, but the incandscent manufacturer changes or dies. There's no net increase in bulb production; each bulb simply becomes more expensive. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of clean air, but these cram-down policies are hurting the economy at the worst possible time.

It's like telecommunications. People don't really spend any more money to talk on phones now than they did in 1985. It's just that they pay cell providers and sometimes cable companies and sometimes Skype instead of just one phone company. Most of that business has been reshuffled over all these years, but I bet the net number of employees working to deliver phone service hasn't changed that much since that time.

Similarly, energy production might get reshuffled, but I wonder how much new business will emerge at the direct expense of older energy companies, with no net difference in employees.

The difference is that cell phones have resulted in a more productive workplace (and a less productive one, but that's another subject). It used to be that if I had to travel to check out a property or meet someone, I had hours of non-productive time where I couldn't talk to anyone because I didn't have access to a telephone or a computer. Now I can talk on the way to and from the airport, on a train or in my car. I can talk while I'm walking around a property. I can talk taking light rail to work. Waiting for a flight or on a train, I can link to the internet, allowing me to do work.

Don't confuse the transformational change of moving from buggy whips to car manufacture with moving from "brown jobs" to "green jobs". The former grows the market; the latter simply replaces one with another.



I really think it's going to be all about extending human life. Making people live longer and healthier lives. I just can't think of anything that has more universal interest and potential profitability.[/QUOTE]
 
I only call Green Energy a "scam" because of the way people are saying its the wave of the future. Its good to explore clean and alternative energy but when they want to mandate its usage when its still kind of "iffy", it will suck.
 
I only call Green Energy a "scam" because of the way people are saying its the wave of the future. Its good to explore clean and alternative energy but when they want to mandate its usage when its still kind of "iffy", it will suck.

That's what I was saying.

barfo
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top