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Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Building

It occurs to me that it is very difficult to organize people in order to accomplish something.

The economy is funny. We have il ya beaucoup de companies that employ scads of people, maybe half of whom are making a living wage. There is a large number of people who have invested in these companies and are collecting profits in the form of dividends and increased share prices. We have a handful of people who are making bazillions of dollars either from running these organizations or from having a huge share of the ownership.

We also have a huge number of people who are not employed, not working and not earning any income. Most of those are children and a fair number are stay-at-home mothers.

Then we have the problem people, adults who are not contributing in any meaningful manner other than perhaps picking up beer cans from the side of the road.

Robots are putting more and more people out of work. Just look at Amazon and the automobile factories. Yes, we now have people building robots, but they are a small fraction of the number of people being displaced.

There are new opportunities popping up. With a little talent and persistence, some people are making a living making videos for social media. I dunno, but I suspect the illicit drug business has been expanding faster than the population, so there are more people making a living dealing drugs. I suspect these number of people succeeding in these endeavors is insignificant compared to the general employment picture.

What we need is a financial incentive for people to start companies that can employ the currently unemployed. It wouldn't be a conventional business, it wouldn't be able to compete in the existing economy. Problem people would need training, discipline and, most importantly, motivation. A little religion might help. Asking the government to help would almost certainly assure failure. Suspension of minimum wage laws might help.

Of course, the biggest problem is our corrupt congress that keeps spending obscene amounts of money for the sole purpose of getting kickbacks. Can't say as I blame them. Money seems to be the only thing that anybody cares about any more.


1 comment:

xoxoxoBruce said...

They are building super zoomy fighters when I think they should be building aerial firefighting tankers, but that doesn’t mean my priorities are right.
I’m not saying there isn’t palms being greased, just that it’s not all just for skimming and not needed.

I agree the Congress spends a lot on projects they fight over to see whose home state gets the job, which helps them get reelected. But that doesn’t mean the job is a boondoggle that’s unnecessary.
It doesn’t mean they spend more than necessary either. Usually it goes to the lowest bidder. That may be more than we think it should be, but if they want it built they don’t have much choice.

When a company bids a federal contract they know everyone from OSHA to the NLRB and the IRS is watching closely. They must cross the T’s and dot the I’s, and that costs them money.

Like when you hire a plumber who comes in and charges you hundreds for a job that took 3 hours. You don’t think about it costs him hundreds a day to keep his truck on the road, insurance(vehicle & business), taxes, payroll taxes, an accountant, etc. You just think 3 hours.

When they speak of big bucks I translate the dollars to seconds...
1 million seconds = 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes
1 billion seconds = 32 years
1 trillion seconds = 31,688 years
Helps my poor old head put things in perspective.