Demographics: The Death of Halloween Trick or Treating
Last fall (2021), we thought we’d see a return of trick or treating after prior years’ Covid restrictions. We had just 4 knocks on the front door. We had moved…
Demographics: Declining youth enrollment leads to more school closures
The declining youth population in the U.S. is already leading to tough decisions about closing elementary schools. In a few years, decisions will need to be made about middle schools…
Policy: Rule by technocratic elite
Technocracy privileges the opinions and viewpoints of technical experts, exalting them into a kind of aristocracy, while marginalizing the opinions and viewpoints of the general public. Source: Technocracy – Wikipedia…
Demographics: Fewer people attending college
There are multiple factors at play here: There are 4 million fewer college students than there were a decade ago. Among students who graduated high school in 2016, 70% began…
Demographics: The world’s working age population peaked in 2012
The working-age population historically drives the economy. According to a report by the World Bank, the world’s working-age population peaked back in 2012. Since then, it’s been on the decline.…
Demographics: Fertility rates have been decreasing globally for 25-60 years
For the last 50 years, fertility rates have decreased worldwide, due to women’s empowerment, lower child mortality and increased cost of raising children. Source: How much has the global fertility…
Finance: Beyond Meat’s share price in long decline
Beyond Meat hit a high of $194.95 but now trades at about $22/share. Challenges: Product costs +70% more per pound than genuine meat Consumers turned off by high prices Sales…
Demographics: By 2030, 25% of all workers will be over 55 years old
In a world where population demographics is shifting to a surplus of older workers and a significant shortage of younger workers, what happens to age discrimination practices? Bloomberg writes that…
Demographics, Media: BBC acknowledges fertility rate decline, kind of
Lots of scary information about overpopulation – until you reach page 10 of this 22-page BBC report when, oh, by the way, the fertility rate is in sharp decline. This…
Energy: Using hot water tanks to store energy
This makes a lot of sense: Hot water systems are important and are one of the most basic energy storage devices available. Before, electric hot water systems were timed to…