Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: politics

Double, double, toil and trouble!

Whom do you believe? Bush?

Whom do you Believe? Kerry?

Jack, Did you know that they count jobs by how many people are in the workforce ? There Were 137,000,000 people employed in Jan. 2001... Today there are 139,500,000 employed (as of Aug 31) ... That is a 2.5 million gain, right ?

Wrong... Since 3.4 million people entered the workforce, it is a 900,000 loss.

Gotta love Government think.

Those were good links Jack. Numbers can be confusing, especially when it comes to economics, and especially especially when the numbers are being used by politicians.

I like the straight talk you get from the gov't economists though. The lady that said outsourcing is not a big deal, that it is part of a dynamic economy, is talking straight. We are going to lose jobs to developing countries as they progress - the alternative would be stifling their economic development through protectionist policies and/or using those countries only for raw materials. Some people credit that tendency in the past for some of the current animosity of poor nations towards the US.
What all that progress in the third world means for US workers is that they need to be retrained in more value added industry (hi-tech, aerospace, etc...). In practice it appears that most of the job growth is in service industries, however.
On an individual level it can be painful for the manufacturing worker who loses his job, but it is progress. Unless of course, we all just start crying and demand gov't assistance, then we're just screwed.
I'm telling everybody stuff thay already know, huh?

BigWill... Careful, We are agreeing again... In 1910, I am sure some people in the horse and buggy trade were pretty upset at the loss of jobs when the auto was becoming popular.

Then there is the eBay debate going on. I personally know three guys who left $70,000 to $100,000 jobs to start an eBay biz... they are all making $100,000 or more from their house... I thought they were nuts for quitting their jobs, but it works great for them.

In another case, a business associate's wife quit a job as paralegal, and is doing the eBay gig... None of these counts as jobs...

My wife quit her job and has mentioned selling stuff on eBay to make $. I don't know what she'd sell - maybe some of my old speaker wires rewrapped and marketed as "audiophile" quality?

The scary thing is she would likely make a fortune. Go to Lowes, and Buy some 12 guage stuff, seal it in shrink wrap, and deliver it in dry ice ala Omaha Steaks...

If she needs a partner, let me know ...

Since I work 5 mins away from Omaha Steaks perhaps I should just quit my job, go buy em there and ship em out myself via ebay?

In reply to:

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It is a very basic concept in war

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Do you mean the War on Terror, the War on Iraq, or the War on Drugs. There are just too many to keep track of these days.

I think we should declare a War on Complacency so that all those people who never vote get off their butts this election, but that might just desensitize them to the fact that War = death and violence (by and for both sides).

Sounds like a good business model to me...

PMB - You are right. People on BOTH sides die in war. Unless we follow the French model and do nothing.

Then only people on OUR side die...