Dave’s Musings
There was a recent article in Forbes about wealth inequity in this country. They refer to it as a "New Gilded Age" as layoffs among employees are fairly commonplace, while companies continue to make enormous profits - and the executives of said companies get paid lavishly for their work.
Its yet another reason to hate on the system, and why employee engagement is so abysmally low. There's no investment in employees, no attempt to retain them, and hiring is just absurd with "AI systems" rejecting people for jobs they are eminently qualified for, without the candidate even getting a resume to a hiring manager.
There's so little to build on, as companies just want you to pour everything into a job, and accept that they are giving you a paycheck; all the while they consider you to just be a number.
Here's a cool piece of tech that allows for wireless power transmission; outdoor things can be powered without being connected to an outlet. Its a "puck" that you plug in and attach to a window, then you place a receiver outside which you can plug into via USB. It uses a magnetic field to connect the devices. While its mostly a prototype for now, the concept is very intriguing and could revolutionize way we use power. https://newatlas.com/around-the-home/power-mole-transmits-electricity-window-glass/ |
Disney's proxy battle came to an end last week. Typically, board room challenges are difficult and the odds are long. Still, the Peltz bid picked up a fair amount of momentum and it was close ... but in the end, the mostly predictable outcome was that the company "won" the proxy fight. As you might guess, the overall reality of the outcome is more nuanced. The board got a wakeup call from big investors, there is acknowledgement that some C-suite thinking needs to evolve, and its clear that Iger needs to start truly succession planning right away. So....in a way, you could argue that Peltz got what he wanted to a large degree. |
I've seen a few articles recently about universal basic income. Several cities have piloted programs, and there's a group of investors who are doing a controlled study in Denver to see what impact this might have on people's lives. The results thus far are encouraging. We see that the participants in each of the specific cities who are receiving benefits from the government are happier, at least somewhat successful, and are are more self-sufficient. And it seems to curb homelessness - which is always a desired outcome. "For many ... households, a small monthly infusion of unconditional cash can make the difference between stability and deep poverty." And in the Denver story, they're testing various amounts of money over different periods of time to see if one solution works better than others. But in every case, they're seeing positive results. Of course, there are people who think this is a horrible idea, and people should have to fend for themselves. But as we've seen in the past, there is such a disparity in wealth that some people can simply never catch up, through no fault of their own. |
Latest video | This video is about Reusable rockets |
One Little Spark … | I was “downsized” from my job, and a few weeks ago, I opted to apply for unemployment from the state of Florida. [aside: I'm at ease with my situation, and am making a switch to consulting at this point in my career] Keep in mind that unemployment money comes from the companies that do business in the state. It’s paid by them to cover unemployment insurance as a regular assessment; it does not come directly out of the states bottom line. But Florida wants people to work! And so limits you to 12 weeks of payments. The amount you receive is dependent on what you were making while employed, but caps at $275 per week. Which equates to about $6.87 per hour - while in Florida the minimum wage is $12 (federal minimum is $7.25 by the way). Clearly it is a disincentive. And what's this? The amount paid through unemployment hasn't changed in nearly two decades. And by the way, that money is taxed at a rate of about 20%. So it’s nowhere near being enough to live on. (The notion that people are complacent with unemployment and don't want to go back to work is asinine!) Then, there’s the bureaucratic process of applying, which could take up to two weeks before you’re even eligible. And the first week in the system is a non-payment week. Meaning that you only get paid after your 3rd week out of work. Payments are every two weeks, so essentially you have very little money, and a long time between getting it. There’s followup required each week which takes time and effort, and the agency is a typical state agency that is underfunded and has a lot of red tape. I have to imagine many people struggle with this system, have to take whatever job, or simply give up. In any of those cases, the state can report that unemployment is low! There’s something very broken about our system, and as it stands this greatly favors lower-wage paying businesses who can take advantage of people. It’s pretty sad. |
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