How and why markets aren't rational. Navigational tips for successfully charting the Bermuda Triangle of human economic behavior. ™

 

Labor Day is one of the most important - and disturbing - holidays in the United States.

In so many ways, the history of work in the US is a history of struggle. Historically, the access, the training, and the opportunity to earn a living wage have all been limited to a lucky few. Actually, "luck" is only the luck of the draw: to have been born with a particular gender and hue, and to come from a certain cultural/economic class, get you most of the distance to home plate. Too bad for everyone else -- they are barely visible anyway, most of the time. Most of us - African-Americans, women, those arriving from distant shores as indentured servants - have never seen the fruits of our labors.

"Average" Unemployment Numbers Mean so Little.

Increasingly, the experienced, highly skilled, and super-annuated (by which I mean people over 38 years old), are simply put out to pasture the second a) they pass the median salary for their job grade; and/or b) the moment the CFO tells the boss that it can be done 'for economic reasons' without invoking undue legal risk. That they have a wealth of knowledge, skill, judgment, and experience is of no concern to the bean-counters who know how to count bodies, but are inured to the importance of intangibles like resourcefulness and deep knowledge.


That these skilled, experienced, but formerly-employed workers have families, homes, and bills to pay is of no concern to anyone as far as I can tell. That the suicide rate (at $1.6 million per 'successful' completion) is skyrocketing among such people is of no concern either - particularly to the political and economic "leadership" classes - who could do something to rectify the tragedy but won't.

U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High - The New York Times

The Effect of Population Aging on Economic Growth, the Labor Force and Productivity : Link to the full report, from the Rand Corporation and Harvard University.











permalink: posted by saraw1 at 9/05/2016 10:05:00 PM