We are going to have to adapt our institutions to a new world as we always have. And in doing so, we have to remind ourselves that we rise and fall as one nation; that a country in which only a few prosper is antithetical to our ideals and our democracy; that those of us who have benefited greatly from the blessings of this country have a solemn obligation to open the doors of opportunity, not just for our children, but to all of America's children; and that unless we take immediate steps to realign the interests of all Americans in growth and prosperity, we may generate a political climate that is inimical to both.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendell-potter/why-im-not-joining-the-ca_b_403176.html
...I understand their frustration, but I believe that when they stop and think about the real consequences of what they demanding, they will realize that for all its disappointing compromises and flaws, even the Senate-passed bill should be viewed as a foundation that can be built upon in years to come. Ted Kennedy, who advocated for a "Medicare for All" type system before many of today's activists were born, would truly have been proud of this beginning. He would not have liked everything about the bill, that's for sure, but he understood what it means to live in a political world and that compromises -- even big ones -- almost always have to be made on the journey toward an ultimate destination....
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Washington Post: Winning ugly, but winning: Ezra Klein
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/winning_ugly_but_winning.html
...But this bill will do most of the things supporters hoped it would do: cover about 95 percent of all legal residents, regulate insurers, set up competitive exchanges, pretty much end risk selection, institute a universal structure that we can improve and enhance as the years go on, and vastly reduce both medical and financial risk for families. ...
By Ezra Klein | December 24, 2009; 7:50 AM ET
Obama Remarks on Math, Science and Technology Education
CQ Transcripts Wire Monday, November 23, 2009;
...
also want to note that this is only the beginning. We're going to challenge the private sector to partner with community colleges, for example, to help train the workers of today for the jobs of tomorrow, even as we make college more affordable, so that by 2010 America once again leads the world in producing college graduates.
OBAMA: Now, I have to say to the young people who are here, we can't let students off the hook. In the end, the success of this campaign depends on them. But I believe strongly that America's young people will rise to the challenge if given the opportunity, and given a little bit of a push.
We've got to work together to create these opportunities because our future depends on them.
And I just want to mention the importance not only for students but also of parents.
You know, I was in Asia, I think, many of you are aware, for a week. And I was having lunch with the president of South Korea, President Lee. And I was interested in the education policy -- they've grown enormously over the last 40 years -- and I asked them what are the biggest challenges in your education policy.
He said, you know, "The biggest challenge that I have is that my parents are too demanding."
(LAUGHTER)
He said, "Even if somebody is dirt poor, they are insisting that their kids are getting the best education." He said, "I've had to import thousands of foreign teachers because their all insisting that Korean children have to learn English in elementary school."
That was the biggest education challenge that he had was an insistence, a demand from parents for excellence in the schools.
And the same thing was true when I went to China. And I was talking to the mayor of Shanghai, and I asked him about -- how he was doing recruiting teachers, given that they've got 25 million people in this one city.
He said, "We don't have problems recruiting teachers because teaching is so revered and the pay scales for teachers are actually comparable to doctors and other professions."
That gives you a sense of what is happening around the world. There is a hunger for knowledge, an insistence on excellence, a reverence for science and math and technology and learning. That used to be what we were about. That's what we're going to be about again.
And I have to say that this doesn't get a lot of focus. Not once was I asked about education policy during my trip by the press, and oftentimes events like this get short shrift. They're not what's debated on cable.
But this is probably going to make more of a difference in determining how well we do as a country than just about anything else that we do here. ....
The Hollow American Economy
A Clarion Call For Leadership
...converting the United States from an exporting, value and wealth creating nation, to one careening recklessly toward bankruptcy. The purpose is to dispel some of the rationalizations for this unhealthy transformation of our economy; and it is to put both data and common sense on the table so reasonable people can engage in the critical discussion of how best to get our economy back on track. ...
As the BLS said, “an increasing share of jobs was in high-paying jobs and required college training; but most jobs that were filled paid below-average wages and did not require a college education.” They are stating the obvious. There is a finite need for doctors, lawyers and professors....
Without people making things and creating value, there is no money for the financial sector to play with....
The number of jobs in true value creation activities is a much more accurate measure of the long term health of the country....
There is no manufacturing voice in our government at a time when we so desperately need one.
We need a full airing in America on this very critical matter. Champions must step forward to lead an effort to honestly explore how best to stop the continuing collapse of American manufacturing.Tell the globalization experts to stay at home. They have had their say. Instead ask people like Doc Hall from Indiana University who formed the Association for Manufacturing Excellence to explain the current state of manufacturing and how we got here. He is a walking encyclopedia of the last thirty years of successes and failures. Call in Brian Maskell to explain how government mandated accounting rules are eroding manufacturing, and how the privately held companies are doing accounting in a radically different way, and managing their companies much more effectively as a result. Have Jeffery Liker explain to you the real reasons for Toyota’s manufacturing tap dance over General Motors.
Our business heroes are the thousands of American men and women in who roll up their sleeves and compete toe to toe every day with the best in the world, and win – .... These people are committed to theircommunities and the people with whom they work. They – not the clever financiers – are our businessheroes; and they are the key to turning our economy around and getting us back on the track we were once on. But they cannot do so without the support of the country, and we are rapidly running out of time.
http://www.bill-waddell.com/images/CLARION_CALL_MASTER.pdf
Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management; Author, "It Could Happen Here"
...Earlier this week, we announced a new service, The Cost Savings Guy. For the past six months, I have been leading the development of this initiative, which I passionately believe has the potential to change the fortunes of the millions of small businesses and nonprofits that are struggling to stay afloat. ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-judson/can-the-free-market-save_b_356998.html
Obama Embrace of Wall Street Insiders Points to Politic Reforms By Heidi Przybyla
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg)
Just by being elected, even before he sets foot in the White House, Obama has changed the course of history. And starting in January, he'll have a rare chance to overhaul a financial regulatory system that failed to prevent the worst crisis in decades -- if he chooses to seize the opportunity.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aWSz2kUxdTiU&refer=home
...Barack Obama had barely won the presidential election when right-wing critics fumed that he would govern from the "ideological left."
But left-wing critics wrung their hands over Obama's call for unity, saying it would compromise his mandate for change.
"It's what I call `yo-yo economics,'" says Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, an adviser to the Obama campaign. "It means `you're on your own.' But Obama has shown that the notion that government is always bad and private-sector markets are always good has been deeply disproved at great cost."
"But whether his plans will lead to radical change, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era New Deal is still unclear.
That's unsettling to those who demand far-reaching political and economic change.
"Progressives hope that the Obama administration, like the New Deal, will respond to the current economic and financial crisis by creating institutions, especially a universal health-care system, that will change the shape of American society for generations to come," says economist Paul Krugman, in a recent New York Times column.
He warned Obama should resist the error Roosevelt made in cutting back his spending plans after his 1936 election victory, eroding gains created by his early bold plans.
http://www.thestar.com/News/USElection/article/537535
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6113844.html
Obama should also cling to his goal of re-creating nationally the visionary Harlem Children's Zone — a swath of Harlem in which the poorest residents are surrounded by service and educational programs, starting before birth in a class called Baby College. During his campaign, Obama proposed duplicating the project with a half-private, half-governmental project in cities including Houston. (For details, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh5QRMaa_KE).
The children's zone plan will probably have to wait until shock waves stop jolting the economy. But just as he went to that parent-teacher meeting right after election, Obama must act fast after entering office to launch the most affordable, achievable educational reforms. They are the building blocks for our children's future prosperity.
The Economist's poll of economists
Oct 2nd 2008 | WASHINGTON, DCFrom The Economist print edition
AS THE financial crisis pushes the economy back to the top of voters’ concerns, Barack Obama is starting to open up a clear lead over John McCain in the opinion polls. But among those who study economics for a living, Mr Obama’s lead is much more commanding. A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority—at times by overwhelming margins—believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and will appoint better economic advisers.
Our survey is not, by any means, a scientific poll of all economists. We e-mailed a questionnaire to 683 research associates, all we could track down, of the National Bureau of Economic Research, America’s premier association of applied academic economists, though the NBER itself played no role in the survey. A total of 142 responded, of whom 46% identified themselves as Democrats, 10% as Republicans and 44% as neither. This skewed party breakdown may reflect academia’s Democratic tilt, or possibly Democrats’ greater propensity to respond. Still, even if we exclude respondents with a party identification, Mr Obama retains a strong edge—though the McCain campaign should be buoyed by the fact that 530 economists have signed a statement endorsing his plans.
Does their opinion matter? Economics is just one of the many things the next president will have to worry about; voters still seem to prefer Mr McCain on foreign policy. And even on the economy, economists may not have the same priorities as the population at large. Arguably, what a president says about economics on the campaign trail is less important than how he responds to the unexpected challenges that inevitably arise once he is in office.
Yet economists’ opinions should count for something because irrespective of any party affiliation, most of them approach policy decisions with the same basic tool kit. Their assessment of the candidates’ economic credentials and plans represents an informed judgment on how well they will handle difficult trade-offs between efficiency, equity, growth and consensus-building.
Regardless of party affiliation, our respondents generally agree the economy is in bad shape, that the election is important to the course of economic policy and that the housing and financial crisis is the most critical economic issue facing America.
The detailed responses are bad news for Mr McCain (the full data are available here). Eighty per cent of respondents and no fewer than 71% of those who do not cleave to either main party say Mr Obama has a better grasp of economics. Even among Republicans Mr Obama has the edge: 46% versus 23% say Mr Obama has the better grasp of the subject. "...
“John McCain has professed disdain for ‘so-called economists’, and for some the feeling has become mutual,” says Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. “Obama’s team is mainstream and non-ideological but extremely talented.”
On our one-to-five scale, economists on average give Mr Obama’s economic programme a 3.3 and Mr McCain’s a 2.2. Mr Obama, says Jonathan Parker, a non-aligned professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, “is a pragmatist not an ideologue. I expect Clintonian economic policies.”
This is the fourth presidential election in which The Economist has surveyed economists on the candidates and their plans. Responses, anonymous except where requested, were received between September 18th and 30th. For full results see article.
By Derrick Z. Jackson
Globe Columnist / August 23, 2008
...As China and the United States produce athletes in very different, yet equally obsessive ways - and as we treat college and pro athletes as demigods and allow our children to become enslaved to high school coaches and suburban soccer programs - India is producing brainpower....
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http://www.2mminutes.com/
....
Think American education standards are higher than the Third World – well why not have your 11th or 12th grade son or daughter try the Third World Challenge? After all in just a few more years the challenge will be in the marketplace for high paying jobs – might as well find out now if your son or daughter is competitive.
Sincerely,Bob ComptonExecutive ProducerTwo Million Minutes
http://www.2mminutes.com/third-world-challenge.html
Trailer for film "2 million minutes":
http://www.youtube.com/user/2MillionMinutes
http://www.amazon.com/Obamanomics-Bottom-Up-Prosperity-Trickle-Down-Economics/dp/1583228659/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218115939&sr=8-1
Best-selling author John R. Talbott, widely regarded as one of the first to predict the current housing and mortgage crisis (back in 2003), turns his attention to the economic possibilities achievable under a Barack Obama presidency.
The State of Employee Engagement 2008 (http://www.blessingwhite.com/research) explores workplace attitudes among three generations of employees and draws on survey responses from more than 7,500 individuals and interviews with 40 senior human resource and line managers.
The findings indicate that at least one quarter of Generation Y employees are disengaged in all key geographic regions except India. Southeast Asia reported the greatest portion of disengaged Gen Y workers with 35%.
Disengaged Employees Levels by Generation and Region:
Baby Boomers Gen X Gen Y
(1946-64) (1965-77) (1978-90)
Australia & New Zealand: 13% 24% 25%
China:* - 34% 33%
Continental Europe: 18% 20% 28%
India: 16% 12% 14%
North America: 17% 20% 25%
Southeast Asia: 16% 20% 35%
United Kingdom & Ireland: 18% 22% 30%
*There were too few survey responses for Baby Boomers in China to include.
The research suggests that the more senior the employees the more engaged they are, said BlessingWhite CEO Christopher Rice. "Around the globe, senior executives are generally more engaged than front-line managers or individual contributors. Gen Y disengagement levels may reflect, to some extent, their low seniority since more Baby Boomers would predictably hold leadership roles. Increased engagement is an expected outcome from power and position."
Another contributing factor is that younger employees often do not have a clear picture of what will make them happy, said Rice. "Often, they can't find what they're looking for because they don't have the experience to know what they want. Lack of personal clarity can also influence engagement for Gen Y, in particular."
The exception to a general picture of disengagement among Gen Y employees, explained Rice, is India, whose younger employees have higher levels of engagement compared to other regions. "This probably reflects the expanded opportunities as well as its young, fast-paced, knowledge-based economy. In fact, all generations in India are happier than employees in other regions," said Rice
"Engaged employees are not just committed or passionate or proud," said Rice. "They're enthusiastic and in gear, using their talents to make a difference in their employer's quest for sustainable success. As a rule, increased engagement results in increased productivity and performance. It's a key business issue leaders need to address, particularly in times of economic downturn and uncertainty."
Conversely, disengaged employees often feel underutilized, are the most disconnected from the organization's strategy, and may indulge in contagious negativity, warned Rice. "Left to themselves disengaged workers are likely to look for their next job, or worse collect a paycheck while complaining and not producing. If they can't be coached or encouraged to higher levels of engagement, their exit benefits everyone, including themselves."
http://www.prnewsnow.com/Public_Release/Technology/223107.html
China unleashes Clean Revolution…
Press Release
July 31, 2008
China seizes low carbon export opportunities in clean tech race
China is already the world’s leading renewable energy producer* and is over-taking more developed economies in exploiting valuable economic opportunities, creating green-collar jobs and leading development of critical low carbon technologies, says a new report to be published by The Climate Group...
Often described as the factory of the world, 23 per cent of China’s CO2 emissions were produced in the manufacture of products for export in 2004, mainly to the developed world. However, it is precisely its ability to manufacture technology in large volumes and at competitive prices that will enable it to dominate the world’s renewable technology market. ...
• Chinese entrepreneurs are riding a low carbon wave of investment. A low carbon wave has swept up tens of thousands of Chinese companies and created some of China’s most successful business leaders. China’s six largest solar PV manufacturers had a market value of over USD$15bn in July 2008; the market for solar water heaters is worth over USD$2bn a year and is growing at 20 per cent; and the market for electric bicycles (e-bikes) is around USD$6bn. ...
Washington, D.C.-A transition to renewable energy sources promises significant global job gains at a time when the coal industry has been hemorrhaging jobs for years, according to the latest Vital Signs Update released by the Worldwatch Institute.
The coal, oil, and natural gas industries require steadily fewer jobs as high-cost production equipment takes the place of human capital. Many hundreds of thousands of coal mining jobs have been shed in China, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and South Africa during the last two decades, sometimes in the face of expanding production. In the United States alone, coal industry employment has fallen by half in the last 20 years, despite a one-third increase in production.
"Renewables are poised to tackle our energy crisis and create millions of new jobs worldwide," according to Worldwatch Senior Researcher Michael Renner. "Meanwhile, fossil fuel jobs are increasingly becoming fossils themselves, as coal mining communities and others worry about their livelihoods."
Strong government support has allowed Germany, Spain, and Denmark to emerge as leaders in renewable energy development-and green jobs. The German government reports that the country was home to an estimated 259,000 direct and indirect jobs in the renewables sector in 2006. This figure is expected to reach 400,000-500,000 by 2020, and 710,000 by 2030. In the United States, the renewables sector employed close to 200,000 people directly and 246,000 indirectly in 2006, due mostly to leadership at the state level. China is rapidly catching up in manufacturing of solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines and is already the dominant global force in solar hot water development.
An estimated 2.3 million people worldwide currently work either directly in renewables or indirectly in supplier industries. The solar thermal industry employs at least 624,000 people, the wind power industry 300,000, and the solar PV industry 170,000. More than 1 million people work in the biomass and biofuels sector, while small-scale hydropower employs 39,000 individuals and geothermal employs 25,000.
These figures are expected to swell substantially as private investment and government support for alternative energy sources grow. The most optimistic analyses project that global wind power employment will increase to as much as 2.1 million in 2030 and 2.8 million in 2050. Similar projections estimate that worldwide solar PV production alone could create as many as 6.3 million jobs by 2030.
"Government officials now have yet another reason to put the full weight of their support behind renewables," said Renner. "In addition to protecting our planet and phasing out an increasingly limited resource, policies that support renewable energy also support job creation."
This new report by Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim provides a snapshot of the jobs are needed to build a green economy in the U.S. The report focuses on six strategies for attacking global warming: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power, and cellulosic biomass fuels. The vast majority of jobs associated with these strategies are in the areas of employment that people already work in today, in every region and state of the country. What makes these entirely familiar occupations “green jobs” is that the people working in them are contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy. The report presents data on employment in Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin, including the number of people employed in the occupations affected by our six green strategies, and what the average wages are for each of these jobs. What is clear is that millions of workers—across a wide range of familiar occupations—will benefit from the project of defeating global warming and transforming the United States into a green economy. >> Read more and download “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy”
Consumer economy on a knife-edge with worse to come
04 July 2008: Ernst & Young’s Annual Discretionary Income Study, launched today, reveals that UK consumer spending power has fallen dramatically in the face of massive price hikes in the cost of living. The average UK household is now 15 per cent worse off than it was five years ago. After tax contributions and monthly household bills, the average family now has under 20% of its gross income left over, as opposed to 28% in 2003. Furthermore, the pace of the squeeze on the consumer has accelerated rapidly over the last year – discretionary monthly spend as a proportion of gross household income fell by almost 12% in 2007/08 its fastest rate of decline in the last five years.
Jason Gordon, director of retail at Ernst & Young comments: “Many UK consumer segments are clearly feeling the pinch as big rises in household costs are far outstripping relatively modest wage inflation.”
Key Findings
Gordon adds: “All consumers are painfully aware of the huge hikes in petrol and utility bills but we’ve also seen some fairly hefty price increases in pension contributions and debt repayments.”
“If we go one step further and factor in food price inflation, which official figures have placed at 8.7% in the last year, it’s clear that household budgets are under enormous strain. Add in the impact of falling house prices on the consumer’s propensity to spend, and the consumer economy is undoubtedly on a knife-edge.
“Worryingly, though, the worst could be yet to come. If, as predicted, utility prices rise by as much as 40% later this year and interest rates are increased to control rising inflation, consumers and consumer facing businesses will face even bleaker times.” ...
http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/UK/Media_-_08_07_04_DC_-_UK_households_worse_off_than_5_years_ago
High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited
June 2008: Zoltan Acs, William Parsons and Spencer Tracy; http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs328.pdf
This study revisits and expands upon some of the conclusions on rapidly growing firms made by the small business research pioneer, David Birch, in the 1980s. Birch found that rapidly growing firms,which he termed “gazelles,” are responsible for most employment growth. While Birch’s definition of gazelles was based on their revenue growth, this study examines firms with significant revenue growth and expanding employment. These are termed “high-impact firms” to distinguish them from gazelles. The research offers summary statistics helping to define the scope and characteristics of high impact firms. The report sheds light on several previously unanswered questions, including: What are high-impact firms before they become high-impact firms? What happens after their high-impact phase?
Overall Findings
High-impact firms are relatively old, rare and contribute to the majority of overall economic growth.
On average, they are 25 years old, they represent between 2 and 3 percent of all firms, and they account for almost all of the private sector employment and revenue growth in the economy.
Highlights
• From 2002 to 2006 there were 376,605 high impact firms in the United States. This number increased from 299,973 between 1998–2002 and was greater than the 352,114 firms in the 1994–1998 period of analysis.
• During the 1994–2006 period, firms with fewer than 20 employees represented 93.8 percent of the high-impact firms and 33.5 percent of job growth among high-impact firms, while firms with 20 to 499 employees represented 5.9 percent and 24.1 percent, respectively.
• For the three firm-size categories analyzed, the average size of high-impact firms in the 1-19 size category was 3 employees at the beginning of the period of analysis, increasing almost out of the size category to 16; for the 20-499 firm-size class it was 65 increasing to 209; and for the over-500 size class, it was 3,648 increasing to 8,041.
• The average high-impact firm is around 25 years old, but they are younger than low-impact firms.
• High-impact firms exist in all industries. While some industries have a higher percentage of these firms, they are not limited to high-technology industries.
• High-impact firms exist in almost all regions, states, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and counties.
• Low-impact firms do not grow on average.
• Nearly all job loss in the economy in each of the three time periods analyzed is attributable to low impact firms with more than 500 employees.
• Less than 3 percent of high-impact firms were born in the previous four-year period, however as firm size increases that number doubles to over 6 percent.
• In the four years after a high-impact firm undergoes its high-growth phase, only about 3 percent die. Most remain in business and exhibit at least some growth.
• The data suggest that local economic development officials would benefit from recognizing the value of cultivating high-growth firms versus trying to increase entrepreneurship overall or trying to attract relocating companies when utilizing their resources.
The full text of this report and summaries of other studies performed under contract with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy are available on the Internet at www.sba.gov/advo/research.
Excerpt from Page 2 of BP STATISTICAL REVIEW OF WORLD ENERGY JUNE 2008 {with Bolding and underlining added by Eric}
ENERGY DEVELOPMENTSWorld primary energy consumption increasedby 2.4% in 2007 – down from 2.7% in 2006,but still the fifth consecutive year of above-average growth. The Asia-Pacific regionaccounted for two-thirds of global energyconsumption growth, rising by an above-average 5% even though consumption inJapan declined by 0.9%. North Americanconsumption rebounded after a weak year in 2006, rising by 1.6% – double the 10-yearaverage. Chinese growth of 7.7% was theweakest since 2002, although still above the10-year average (as was China’s economicgrowth). China again accounted for half ofglobal energy consumption growth. Indianconsumption grew by 6.8%, the third-largestvolumetric increment after China and the US.EU energy consumption declined by 2.2%,with Germany registering the world’s largest decline in energy consumption.
Energy matters Download a copy of the Statistical Review of World Energy 2008 Download (pdf, 6479KB)
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Eric's Note: What can we learn from Germany?
