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 Wednesday, June 05, 2002


News: Kiplinger Forecasts newsletter predicts a long term labor crisis.

Comment: They do a weekly letter called, oddly enough, The Kiplinger Letter. I've been reading it for about 20 years. Anyway, the May 17 letter notes that over the next 10 years, the labor force will increase by about 12%, but the number of jobs will go up by 15%.
That's bad news for employers. They won't be able to get enough good, well-trained workers who can help their businesses grow. In particular short supply, says Kiplinger, will be information technology workers and technically-trained employees of all kinds.
This forecast makes me grateful that my daughter has a degree in engineering and my son is working on his computer science degree. They have bright job prospects.

News: Bad omen for Michigan's economy -- the number of workers in the state goes down -- http://www.freep.com/news/mich/clim28_20020528.htm

Comment -- More bad news for employers (and anyone else interested in having a robust state economy.) "University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes said...the state is not keeping some of its best workers or drawing new employees to the state. Although Michigan's labor force growth slightly outpaced the U.S. average between 1991 and 2000, a shift appears to be under way. From 2000 to 2001, the state's labor force declined 0.5 percent, while increasing 0.7 percent nationally."
The same article notes that Michigan's taxes are 2% above the national average. Maybe workers are fleeing high taxes?

News -- why do smart people do dumb things? Because they are not wise! -- http://makeashorterlink.com/?J27052001

Comment: Yale psychologist Robert Sternberg wrote "Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid." He says research shows four reasons why smart people can be boneheads: they think the world revolves around them, they think know it all, they believe they can't fail, and they think they can't be harmed. In other words, they have little wisdom, which Sternberg defines as the ability to apply knowledge to achieve a common good.
Sometimes you have to be smart enough to know you don't have all the answers.

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2:01:45 PM    



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