Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, debt, debtor, demand, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, e-commerce, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, energy, entitlements, evolution, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010|
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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Posted in Economics & Globalization, Media & Social Media, tagged academic costs, advice, agency, ailing economy, American, Americans, analysis, Ann Pace, back to school, Belle Wheelan, campuses, career, career change, cashier, cashiers, child, college, commission, competitiveness, continuing education, cost of going to school, create jobs, credential, critical, curriculum, Curt Eysink, customer service agents, degree, diminish, director, editorial, education, educational loans, electrician, employ, employment insecurity, engineering, fields, fluke, forecasts, foreign, foreigners, Forgotten MiddleSkill Jobs, future, genius to succeed, globalization, governor, grad students, grades, Great Recession, growth projections, growth sector, H-1B, H1B, hands-on, higher education system, hire, home health aids, hope for, income, industry, inshore, insource, internationalize, invest, IQ, Jan Moller, Jindal, Joe the Plumber, labor, labor department, lobby attendants, loss, Louisiana, Louisiana Workforce Commission, low wage, machinist, math, mechanic, middle class, middle skill jobs, national outlook, New York Times, nobel winners, not enough, occupation, offshore, options, outsource, outweigh benefits, panacea, Ph.D, plumber, politically correct, prospects, public, reality check, reforming, report, representatives, requiring, right decision, rude awakening, schools, science, secretary, security, seeing red, seekers, service, service sector, should I return to school, silver lining, skilled, skilled labor, Skills2Compete, skillset, social contract, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, stability, standard of living, states, statistics, STEM, student lending, student loan bubble, students, study, survey, Susan Hockfield, technical, Technology & Science, the bell curve, ticket-takers, Tom Friedman, too few, too many, too many four year graduates, trade, trends, truth about, U.S., undercut, unemployable, unemployed, United States, university, unpopular view, untouchables, visas, vocational, wages, where are the jobs, workers, workforce, Workforce Alliance, worthwhile on November 9, 2009|
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Curt Eysink is an unpopular man.
Less than three months after assuming his post as executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, he told a panel charged with overhauling the state’s higher education system: “We’re producing a workforce that we cannot employ in Louisiana.”
The problem? Too many four-year college grads and not enough low-skill and vocational trade workers.
Where is the job growth?
The service industry.
“[O]ccupational forecasts that show the state will produce 10,312 more four-year graduates than there are jobs to fill between 2008 and 2016, while at the same time there are 3,892 more jobs available requiring associates’ or technical degrees than there are people to fill them, ” reports Jan Moller of the Times Picayune.
Fairly or not, such news equates in Americans’ minds with sub par wages. And low-wage prospects make Americans see red.
“If I saw the strongest growth area was ushers, lobby attendants and ticket-takers, I’d leave Louisiana too,” said Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
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