Just as President Obama was taking his latest victory lap for America's economic rebound, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) ruined his self-congratulatory parade. The agency reported the country's lowest monthly job growth in nearly six years. A puny 38,000 jobs were created in May.
The really "smart" people--economists, bankers, fund managers and stock analysts--dismissed the lousy report as an anomaly. Politicians did what they always do, pointing fingers and blaming the other party. No one provided perspective on an ominous trend undermining employment.
In times of economic growth, America has generated an average of more than 300,000 jobs every month. Those days may never been seen again. Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence are hollowing out the job market, reducing the need for people in a range of professions.
Since 2000, America has lost a stunning 11,833,000 jobs. During that period, private and public employers produced 12,994,000 jobs. That number sounds impressive, but 24,827,000 jobs were eliminated over the same timeframe, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Those figures likely are shocking to most Americans because the issue has received little attention. The media certainly has not highlighted the problem and most Washington policy makers are too worried about sustaining their power to consider an American future without job growth.
However, it is The Issue of this century. Since the 1940's, America has rung up more than 10 million new job additions each decade. In the 1990's, the nation tallied 21.7 million jobs. Manufacturing is the face of the new employment reality, having shed five million jobs since 2000.
Automobile manufacturing jobs have been hardest hit. In 2004, the nation's car plants employed more than one million workers. Today, the number has tumbled to 202,000, according to the BLS. Robots have assumed many of the jobs, including welding and painting.
A recent report by the BLS projects dwindling opportunities in industries such as agriculture, information technology, utilities, textile, computer operators, sales and promotion. Often, the proliferation of data computing, technological improvements and automation are the culprits.
Information processing and automated translations services, are reducing the demand for nearly every class of worker. Thousands of clerical, retail, administrative and telemarketing jobs have disappeared. Professions, such as law, financial services and medicine, have suffered job losses, too.
Robots may soon be displacing humans in warehouses. Taxis, buses and trucks will be driven by computers, not humans. Computer kiosks are replacing retail clerks. A CEO of one of the fast-food chains envisions a future of automated food preparation and service.
Digital versions of human intelligence are being employed in ways once unthinkable, affecting nearly every profession without consideration for workers. White collar professions are no longer safe either. The medical profession is on the cusp of a technological revolution.
For instance, in many cases computers can have a more accurate diagnosis rate for certain cancers than humans. A recently approved medical device will soon deliver low-level anesthesia to patients. Robotic systems could potentially remove tumors from tissue with more precision than humans.
In the investment industry, automated services are eliminating the need for personal financial managers, financial planners and even stockbrokers. Computer systems are performing tasks once assigned to low-level lawyers and paralegals, including research and writing legal briefs.
University of Oxford researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, who have done pioneering studies on the displacement of workers, estimate that 47 percent of the current jobs in the U.S. could be automated and handled by computers by 2033.
What is driving automation? There is no single answer, but here's a laundry list of reasons: $15 minimum wage, Obamacare mandates, escalating benefits costs, technological advances, safety concerns, worker turnover, speed imperatives, increased productivity, improved efficiency and profits.
America, in fact the entire world, is facing a Dystopian future where jobs are sparse, incomes are stagnant and inequality becomes more acute. Despite the dire outlook, no policy makers, educators, economists or technologists are offering solutions to help Americans cope with cataclysmic change.
In the new economy, America will need to retool its educational system, cultivate new managerial disciplines, reform career decision-making to reflect the new environment, design new technological training for workers and equip the current workforce with advanced computer skills.
The task ahead will require vision and creativity, two assets that have shaped this great nation. Will America once again rise to the task of coaxing growth from a shifting economy? That question will not be answered until the country first comes to grip with the problem of job evaporation.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
Milliennials: Generation Free Stuff
Millennials, young adults aged 18 to 35 years old, represent an uncertain future for our nation. They are the country's largest age group, a burgeoning demographic that tops 75 million. However, their attitudes and values raise questions about how they will mold America's destiny.
Born into relative affluence, Millennials reject most political, economic and social beliefs of their parents, grandparents and certainly great grandparents. Although there are notable exceptions, most Millennials are stridently more liberal than the rest of the country.
Their fawning support for Barrack Obama produced two victories for the former Illinois senator. The president garnered 67 percent of the Millennial vote in both 2008 and 2012. Millennials represented about 19 percent of the total voter turnout, a potent bloc which tipped the political scales.
Today many have lined up behind Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist who has lured enthusiastic throngs of Millennials with promises of "free" stuff. Sanders' political axioms mirror those of the younger generation.
More than two-thirds of Millennials think government should guarantee food, shelter and a living wage for everyone. They feel entitled to free health care, free birth control, free college, free day care and free transportation. They think the government should provide more services than it now does.
Those are not generalizations. That wish-list of "free" services and products reflect the attitudes of a majority of Millennials, based on recent surveys conducted by the public policy think-tank Reason Foundation and the nationally renowned Pew Research Center.
Who are these Millennials?
Most are saddled with college loan debt. Many are toiling in jobs beneath their education level. They switch jobs and career paths often. More than a few are wallowing in self-pity. They vent their anger over life's unfairness on social media and take little responsibility for their own choices.
Pew Research found that 45 percent of Millennials had no clue about what percentage of their salary would be required to make the college loan payments. Nearly four in 10 (37%) claimed they were unaware of the loan interest rate. Yet they are supposed to be the best and brightest among us.
Perhaps, that explains why 43 percent of Millennials with student loan debt are either behind in their payments or have quit shelling out money. Those statistics were released this year by the federal Department of Education. Millennials act is if they were forced to accept the loans at gunpoint.
In a survey by Citizens Bank, Millennials were asked what they'd considering giving up to pay down their student loan debt. Less than one-half were willing to eschew concert tickets, lattes, food delivery or alcohol purchases to settle their debt. Poor babies can't be expected to forego coffee.
On the job, Millennials no longer work for you, they work with you. In a recent survey, hiring managers at a range of firms chose "narcissistic" as the adjective that best described most Millennials. Personnel people pegged them as money driven and prone to work alone rather than with a team.
Millennials aren't on the same page as today's workers. For starters, they aren't wedded to an office. Pew research found that 64 percent of Millennials want the opportunity to at least occasionally work from home. They also chafe under rigid work schedules and value free time over all other perks.
These young renegades have come to expect free snacks, casual dress codes, flexible work hours, networking evenings and socially accommodating workplaces. Unlike previous generations, Millennials do not believe work is its own reward, the research concludes.
Despite falling unemployment, a depressing 44 percent of college graduates in their 20's are stuck in low-wage, dead-end jobs, the highest rate in decades. The number of young adults earning less than $25,000 annually has also spiked, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Perhaps, Millennials' attitudes toward work might be responsible for stunting career growth.
Their employment woes are creating another phenomenon. For the first time in 130 years, adults 18-to-34 are more likely to be living in their parents home than with a spouse or partner in their own household. Those words are ripped from the latest Pew Research study on Millennials.
More worrisome, a recent Reason-Rupe survey of Millennials found 53 percent view socialism favorably. Many see the federal government as a benevolent caretaker paying for the things they need and want. They are seemingly uninterested in where or how the government gets the money.
These young people are going to be the driving force in America's political, social and economic arena for the next 30 or more years. They will have the demographic power to remake America in their own image. That is a sobering thought for Americans concerned about the country's future.
Born into relative affluence, Millennials reject most political, economic and social beliefs of their parents, grandparents and certainly great grandparents. Although there are notable exceptions, most Millennials are stridently more liberal than the rest of the country.
Their fawning support for Barrack Obama produced two victories for the former Illinois senator. The president garnered 67 percent of the Millennial vote in both 2008 and 2012. Millennials represented about 19 percent of the total voter turnout, a potent bloc which tipped the political scales.
Today many have lined up behind Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist who has lured enthusiastic throngs of Millennials with promises of "free" stuff. Sanders' political axioms mirror those of the younger generation.
More than two-thirds of Millennials think government should guarantee food, shelter and a living wage for everyone. They feel entitled to free health care, free birth control, free college, free day care and free transportation. They think the government should provide more services than it now does.
Those are not generalizations. That wish-list of "free" services and products reflect the attitudes of a majority of Millennials, based on recent surveys conducted by the public policy think-tank Reason Foundation and the nationally renowned Pew Research Center.
Who are these Millennials?
Most are saddled with college loan debt. Many are toiling in jobs beneath their education level. They switch jobs and career paths often. More than a few are wallowing in self-pity. They vent their anger over life's unfairness on social media and take little responsibility for their own choices.
Pew Research found that 45 percent of Millennials had no clue about what percentage of their salary would be required to make the college loan payments. Nearly four in 10 (37%) claimed they were unaware of the loan interest rate. Yet they are supposed to be the best and brightest among us.
Perhaps, that explains why 43 percent of Millennials with student loan debt are either behind in their payments or have quit shelling out money. Those statistics were released this year by the federal Department of Education. Millennials act is if they were forced to accept the loans at gunpoint.
In a survey by Citizens Bank, Millennials were asked what they'd considering giving up to pay down their student loan debt. Less than one-half were willing to eschew concert tickets, lattes, food delivery or alcohol purchases to settle their debt. Poor babies can't be expected to forego coffee.
On the job, Millennials no longer work for you, they work with you. In a recent survey, hiring managers at a range of firms chose "narcissistic" as the adjective that best described most Millennials. Personnel people pegged them as money driven and prone to work alone rather than with a team.
Millennials aren't on the same page as today's workers. For starters, they aren't wedded to an office. Pew research found that 64 percent of Millennials want the opportunity to at least occasionally work from home. They also chafe under rigid work schedules and value free time over all other perks.
These young renegades have come to expect free snacks, casual dress codes, flexible work hours, networking evenings and socially accommodating workplaces. Unlike previous generations, Millennials do not believe work is its own reward, the research concludes.
Despite falling unemployment, a depressing 44 percent of college graduates in their 20's are stuck in low-wage, dead-end jobs, the highest rate in decades. The number of young adults earning less than $25,000 annually has also spiked, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Perhaps, Millennials' attitudes toward work might be responsible for stunting career growth.
Their employment woes are creating another phenomenon. For the first time in 130 years, adults 18-to-34 are more likely to be living in their parents home than with a spouse or partner in their own household. Those words are ripped from the latest Pew Research study on Millennials.
More worrisome, a recent Reason-Rupe survey of Millennials found 53 percent view socialism favorably. Many see the federal government as a benevolent caretaker paying for the things they need and want. They are seemingly uninterested in where or how the government gets the money.
These young people are going to be the driving force in America's political, social and economic arena for the next 30 or more years. They will have the demographic power to remake America in their own image. That is a sobering thought for Americans concerned about the country's future.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Islamic Terror: Obama's Lasting Legacy
Three of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in American history have shuddered the country since Barrack Obama became president. Under any other administration, there would be a national outcry of righteous indignation over the president's inability to keep America safe.
After the horrific terrorist assaults of September 11, 2001, then President George W. Bush was vilified in the media for failure to prevent the bloodshed and berated by Democrats for his response to evil. For the remainder of his two terms, there were no Islamic terrorist strikes on American soil.
Yet there has been hardly a whimper from Obama's apparatchik media in the wake of the weekend terrorist spree in Orlando, where 50 Americans were mercilessly gunned down. This president should be held accountable for dereliction of his duty to defend America from attack.
Hours after the slaughter, an indifferent President Obama went on national television and tepidly condemned terror. He refused to utter the words "Islamic terror," despite overwhelming evidence the rampage had all the earmarks of an ISIS-inspired genocide.
Within minutes of the president's robotic teleprompter monologue, ISIS boasted responsibility for the carnage at the Orlando nightclub. An FBI agent at the scene had already acknowledged the Orlando shooter was on the government's radar and was suspected of ties to a radical Islam group.
A member of Mr. Obama's party, California Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, confirmed that a Department of Homeland Security briefing indicated the gunmen murdered in the name of ISIS.
The shooter, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, was born in New York to parents from Afghanistan. He was a Muslim, who married a Uzbekistan woman in 2009, before divorcing her in 2011. The ex-wife accused Mateen of repeatedly beating her.
If there was any doubt of Mateen's radical connection, Orlando police revealed that he called 911 during his massacre to pledge his allegiance to ISIS, the masked goons who decapitate, rape and execute so-called infidels under the black banner of the Islamic State.
The Orlando shooting frenzy has become a familiar scene under Mr. Obama. On February 18, two Muslim extremists mowed down 14 people in San Bernardino, California. In 2009, an Army major with Islamic ties senselessly murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, including 12 members of the military.
Under Mr. Obama, there have been other lower profile terrorist slayings. Shootings at military recruiting centers in Little Rock and Chattanooga were the work of Islamic thugs. Two Islamic gunmen opened fire at a Texas art show. Two New York policemen were slain by a Muslim.
This president can bury his head in the desert sand but America is under a terrorist siege orchestrated by ISIS. This latest spasm in Orlando comes on the heels of a public warning from ISIS, urging Muslims to launch attacks during Ramadan, the holiest month on the Muslim calendar.
One of Mr. Obama's first acts as president was to officially expunge the words, "War on Terror," from being used by anyone in his administration. In doing so, he forced America to drop its guard. The nation and its intelligence apparatus no longer stand on full alert, but bow to political correctness.
As a result, America has become more vulnerable to terrorist eruptions on its home soil. Mr. Obama owns sole responsibility as commander in chief, sworn to protect America against all enemies, both domestic and foreign. By any measurement, he has utterly failed to carry out this duty.
His so-called campaign to destroy ISIS is laughably inept. The terrorist group has spread its tentacles across the globe while the president has dithered, kowtowed and begged for a coalition to defeat the enemy. Without American leadership, ISIS will never be extinguished from the face of the Earth.
This weak-kneed president can talk all he wants about smart diplomacy, nuclear treaties and broad coalitions. None of that matters in the war on terror. If President Obama refuses to act to protect Americans from the Islamic scourge, then he should be impeached.
After the horrific terrorist assaults of September 11, 2001, then President George W. Bush was vilified in the media for failure to prevent the bloodshed and berated by Democrats for his response to evil. For the remainder of his two terms, there were no Islamic terrorist strikes on American soil.
Yet there has been hardly a whimper from Obama's apparatchik media in the wake of the weekend terrorist spree in Orlando, where 50 Americans were mercilessly gunned down. This president should be held accountable for dereliction of his duty to defend America from attack.
Hours after the slaughter, an indifferent President Obama went on national television and tepidly condemned terror. He refused to utter the words "Islamic terror," despite overwhelming evidence the rampage had all the earmarks of an ISIS-inspired genocide.
Within minutes of the president's robotic teleprompter monologue, ISIS boasted responsibility for the carnage at the Orlando nightclub. An FBI agent at the scene had already acknowledged the Orlando shooter was on the government's radar and was suspected of ties to a radical Islam group.
A member of Mr. Obama's party, California Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, confirmed that a Department of Homeland Security briefing indicated the gunmen murdered in the name of ISIS.
The shooter, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, was born in New York to parents from Afghanistan. He was a Muslim, who married a Uzbekistan woman in 2009, before divorcing her in 2011. The ex-wife accused Mateen of repeatedly beating her.
If there was any doubt of Mateen's radical connection, Orlando police revealed that he called 911 during his massacre to pledge his allegiance to ISIS, the masked goons who decapitate, rape and execute so-called infidels under the black banner of the Islamic State.
The Orlando shooting frenzy has become a familiar scene under Mr. Obama. On February 18, two Muslim extremists mowed down 14 people in San Bernardino, California. In 2009, an Army major with Islamic ties senselessly murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, including 12 members of the military.
Under Mr. Obama, there have been other lower profile terrorist slayings. Shootings at military recruiting centers in Little Rock and Chattanooga were the work of Islamic thugs. Two Islamic gunmen opened fire at a Texas art show. Two New York policemen were slain by a Muslim.
This president can bury his head in the desert sand but America is under a terrorist siege orchestrated by ISIS. This latest spasm in Orlando comes on the heels of a public warning from ISIS, urging Muslims to launch attacks during Ramadan, the holiest month on the Muslim calendar.
One of Mr. Obama's first acts as president was to officially expunge the words, "War on Terror," from being used by anyone in his administration. In doing so, he forced America to drop its guard. The nation and its intelligence apparatus no longer stand on full alert, but bow to political correctness.
As a result, America has become more vulnerable to terrorist eruptions on its home soil. Mr. Obama owns sole responsibility as commander in chief, sworn to protect America against all enemies, both domestic and foreign. By any measurement, he has utterly failed to carry out this duty.
His so-called campaign to destroy ISIS is laughably inept. The terrorist group has spread its tentacles across the globe while the president has dithered, kowtowed and begged for a coalition to defeat the enemy. Without American leadership, ISIS will never be extinguished from the face of the Earth.
This weak-kneed president can talk all he wants about smart diplomacy, nuclear treaties and broad coalitions. None of that matters in the war on terror. If President Obama refuses to act to protect Americans from the Islamic scourge, then he should be impeached.
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