First Blog

P-sports and E-sports?   There is little difference aside from broken bodies.   From the October 29, 2019 New York Times*, we see the headline, “But Mom, Video Games Are My Job.” Thus we have the current valuation of many millennials and those younger about their future prospects.   To make money by playing games.   Any why not?   Prize money for E-sports contests are in the millions.   Multiple millions of the younger set play these games, generating revenues for producers, often exceeding intake by movie theaters and professional sports. These days fully 170 colleges offer e-sports competition.   It is a mere blink of the sports-clock before full scholarships for e-sports combatants are offered.   Oops, that blink has blinked, and now multiple colleges are offering scholarships to play such games including Overwatch and   League of Legends .   This new cadre of e-sports semi-pros is paying real dollars to watch others play the game, naturally hoping to cash in themselves

Jobs anyone? No Thanks.  "I don't want one," is the response from 34.3% of people. This is the latest statistic from the Wall Street Journal, where it is noted this is up from 30% just two decades ago. In a recent paper, Declining Labor Force Attachment and Downward Trends in Unemployment and Participation , by economists Regis Barnichon and Andrew Figura divided those out of the labor force using a simpler standard: whether or not the person says they want a job. the paper is rather technical but understandable. It does lead us to a couple of questions. (1) How much unemployment by those not wishing employment can a prosperous nation absorb - and remain prosperous? (2) What is the critical mass whereby this "don't want a job" attitude toward work becomes an epidemic in society? The answers to both are unexplored. There is another population out there not yet analyzed. This group, those people employed by in totally nonproductive venues.  Many govern

The costs of education are astronomical - and rising. Jobs lost to automation, a hot topic in the past century, have been lost for centuries.  There once was a job "purifier" in old England and other countries wherein the job holder would collect animal feces and sell them to tanneries. Until the 1920's (horse) harness makers made a good living. Then came cars.   Until the 1960's there was the job of elevator operator.  No longer as the vast majority of elevators are now automatic.   There are hundreds of examples.  Large categories of jobs have been lost only in the past few decades. Consider Auto Plant Assembly Workers Factory Jobs Farming Telephone Operators Cashiers Tollbooth Collectors Many are no more or a shadow of their former prominence.  What is the reason for these changes?  Technology is one reason and it figures high.  Some jobs just disappear because they were no longer needed.  Equally important is the cost of these jobs as c