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A couple of years ago it was reported that in 2012 more than half of all American wage earners made less than $30,000 per year. The Social Security Administration's new earnings report for 2014 is out and there's still much gnashing of teeth about the dying middle class. With earnings numbers that haven't changed much in 2 years, estimates running as high as 100 million working age Americans without a job, and no one tracking the population of H-1B visa holders, where are the jobs really?
The July 9, 2015, issue of The New York Review of Books carried a very thoughtful piece by Andrew Hacker. In "The Frenzy About High-Tech Talent," Hacker discusses a number of books and reports that address whether or not there really is a need for more tech talent, the justification for the H-1B visa program, and issues in the American educational system.
[...] Throughout his piece Hacker is basically questioning two things:
1. Is there really an unfilled need for STEM graduates, or are we actually graduating too many so that many end up unemployed or employed in different areas?
2. Are there flaws in the American education system, both at the K-12 level and in college, that lead us to be very dependent on foreign STEM graduates?
[...] The texts Hacker is reviewing, and his own information, seem to dwell predominately on overall job projections for the STEM fields. Nowhere does there appear a breakout of the job forecast for computing related job categories. With the increased ubiquity of computing across all industries and employment sectors, it seems unlikely that we will see the "deskilling" trend that may be occurring in engineering (whereby engineers create equipment that means they and others like them no longer have job opportunities). We know that there are many jobs in the "tech sector" but there are also a lot of computing jobs in banking, finance, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, etc. We can get an accurate picture of future job openings only if we can make a good determination of the computing jobs that exist outside of the "tech sector."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kurenai.tsubasa on Tuesday October 27 2015, @05:45PM
Because the economy has gone straight down the shitter since Bush left office
Oh for crying out loud. Stop the partisan wanking. When I look at the graphs (not necessarily the ones in TFA, which only go back to 2000 on the article I just clicked to check), I see increasing worker productivity and GDP skyrocketing and wages stagnating since 1980. If you want to blame a D-type president, blame Carter by this logic.
If you remember back to 2008, the writing was already on the wall. Before the election, there was already rumblings of bailing out banks and car companies from the Rs. The TEA party had not yet been assimilated by the One Party as an astroturf movement. I voted for Bob Barr of all people for president, because 1.) as if I didn't have enough reasons even then for Grand Duchess Clinton to give me the willies 2.) if I wanted to vote in the D-type primary, I could have, but I voted in the R-type primary, and as far as I could tell Mr. Hussein Obama was a Chicago politician with no experience in an executive position (all though I will be honest I was curious about that hope and change thing—there's no mystery now!) 3.) McCain had my vote right up until he decided it would be a good idea to put some bimbo from Alaska one heart attack away from the presidency. (To Palin's credit, at least she had more executive experience than BHO!)
Back in 2008, I wanted nothing more to see the banks and car makers who were “too big to fail” to just fucking fail already. If we're going to worship the invisible hand of the free market, then I nominate Master Hand [google.com]. Sure, it would have been a complete disaster, but as John Titor put it during his stop-over in 2001-ish, the walk to the gas station will do you some good. Instead, the bread and circuses continued, but never quite enough bread to go around. The Masters of the Universe have been clever: provide plenty of circuses but only enough bread to prevent riots and real political change.
If you want to blame Obama for something, blame him for the insurance company gravy train that is Nixon/Romney/Obamacare.
The only thing that is to be done about this is to see the R-types and D-types for what they are: two faces of the One Party and a bunch of cows who blindly pick a side and stick with it like it's a sports team or some part of their identity.
Vote Libertarian! Personally, I will probably go with Sanders (I-VT) unless the Libertarians manage to put forward a candidate who is dynamite. If you must vote R, vote Trump in the primaries. That's my plan if the coronation process has eliminated Sanders from the D ticket at that point. Sure, Trump's crazy, but what's even crazier is sticking to party lines and continuing the Bush and Clinton dynasties. Trump and Sanders are only running as R and D for convenience. (Besides, how can Clinton be credibly coronated unless she defeats a credible opponent? The Narrative and circuses demand drama for the cows!)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 27 2015, @08:59PM
Oh I do blame Carter for a great many things. What you missed with your own partisan goggles on is I also blamed Bush.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday October 29 2015, @02:11AM
Good.