Teenage Employment

According to this graph, employment among teenagers, ages 16 to 17, has decreased dramatically over time. Employment among teens is less than half of what it was up until the late 1990s/early 2000s. There are a few different causes. I think the primary reason for the decline is the increase in technology. Now, many jobs that could have been done by a teenager back in the 1950-1980s can be automated, or done in a more efficient way, by fewer employees. Technology always means a decrease in unskilled labor. Another big reason is how immigration has changed. Illegal immigration has dramatically increased over the years, so they often take up many unskilled labor positions that teenagers have traditionally had. They will work for less, and probably do a better job. Honestly, most teenagers suck at their jobs. Also, with minimum wage being so high compared to what it was decades ago, employers are more likely to hire older, more experienced (or at least more mature) employees.

Breaking the 1 Percent

This article describes how the working class in Sweden and Norway was able to take the power from the 1%, the extremely wealthy, and change the country in favor of the 99%. Both countries had extremely bad poverty prior to the 1930s, when the power changed in those countries. People had to leave the country to avoid starving to death. The people used non-violent means to remove the "1 percenters" from power. The working class created a strong economy which "eliminated poverty, expanded free university education, abolished slums, provided excellent health care available to all as a matter of right and created a system of full employment.". The standard of living is very good there. Production is primarily publicly owned, taxation is very progressive, and increased government regulation of the private sector. In 2008, Sweden and Norway were perfectly fine, while the US began to struggle with a recession.

Calvinomics

This "Calvin and Hobbes" comic takes shots at a few different groups who are often blamed for the economic problems in this country. It satirizes government subsidies, Unions, and CEOs. First Calvin mocks the ridiculously high salaries and bonuses that CEOs and company presidents often give themselves. Also, Calvin , playing the CEO of his business, is against government health and safety regulations that would cost him money. "Caveat Empor" means "let the buyer beware" in latin, an effort to save money. But when his company starts to go under because of his incompetence in running a business, he runs off and begs for a government subsidy, represented here by his mother. Who you assume will subsidize Calvin's Lemonade Stand. He then plays the role of employee, since he is both the sole employee, investor, and CEO of his lemonade stand. Calvin pokes fun at the unions who demand high wages, and benefits. These all combine to hurt the consumer, when prices go through the roof, such as if lemonade was $15 a glass. Obviously it is all exaggerated, but it shows how these different groups of people, when acting irresponsibly, can hurt both the consumer and the economy as a whole.

App Economy

This article discusses the nearly 500,000 jobs created in the US alone from app development. But how profitable and stable are these jobs? An app has to make into the top 100 list in the online store before they start making any real money. That's a pretty slim chance when you look at the thousands and thousands of new apps every day, most of which nobody buys. Besides, how many different apps do you even use on a daily basis? Only a handful most likely. There is nowhere near 500,000 people needed to make the apps people actually use, most of those 500,000 people just put out shovelware crap, hoping to get lucky. It's like saying that playing the lottery is your job. In 5 years, I bet 90% of these jobs won't even exist any more. Apps will still be around then, but they won't be the fad they are today. They will just be another tool that people take for granted.

1 Crisis Away From Poverty

According to this article, while here is a relatively small number of Americans who live under the poverty line, about %15. However, nearly half the country is just one bad crisis away. If someone has a medical issue, lose their job, etc, they would be under the poverty line. Many peoples' lives could be turned upside down very quickly. They would quickly go into debt, lose their home, and barely be able to scrape by. Many would resort to payday advance loans, which can be very bad. They have extremely high interest rates, and the people who get them often cannot afford to pay them back. People end up in a cycle of debt they cannot escape. A potential cause of this is a lack of financial education in US schools. Many people don't know how to spend responsibly, and live above their means.

Why the US Will Never, Ever Build the iPhone

This article discusses outsourcing, and why it might now be why you think. The iPhone, along with numerous other products that are popular in the United States, are made in other countries, often times China. Cheap foreign labor is often cited as the reason why those jobs are sent overseas, instead of staying the the United States. However, there are other reasons as well. Factories in China cost less to run, due to lower wages, have better supply chains, and can scale up much faster. Workers in Chinese factories often live on site, so they can go to work at a moments' notice. Also, there are thousands and thousands of potential workers, so it is much easier to "scale up" production than it would be in the US. When it comes to supply chains, Asian factories have much better access to materials and components, since many electronics suppliers are based out of Asia. So instead of shipping every processor and hard drive from a factory in Asia to the US, it is far cheaper, faster, and easier to get those same parts to another site in the same region. Another big reason why most technology is primarily produced in other countries is education. China graduates nearly 10 times the number of engineers of the US. Engineers are needed to oversee the manufacturing process, and there are just many more in Asia. It is a slippery slope, because as more large companies move overseas to be closer to customers, wjo are also overseas, even more companies will follow.

SOPA/PIPA's Impact on the Economy

This article discusses some of the possible economic impacts impacts of the Stop Online Piracy Bill (SOPA), and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Fortunantly, SOPA has been put on hold until next month in the House of Representatives, but the Senate version of the bill (PIPA) still has a chance of passing. Both are supposed to prevent piracy, and improve copyright enforcement. But they will also give copyright holding corporations and the government to effectively censor the internet, in the name of fighting piracy.

While piracy hurts media producing companies, both bills will seriously hurt the 46 billion dollar hosting industry, which is increasing by 20% per year, and creates about 15,000 jobs per year. PIPA would put all but the largest hosting companies out of business, due to the additional legal expenses, since hosting companies will be held responsible for any copyright infringement on any domains they host. The damage done to the hosting industry would cause thousands of jobs to be lost, and put companies out of business. It would also stifle technological innovation. Internet technology makes up 7% of the annual GDP of the United States. Any sort of limitation on the internet will be detrimental to both the U.S. and global economy.