Global: Is the world “de-globalizing” now?
Covid, and then Russia’s war on everyone, have led to numerous changes in global trade. Some argue that the multi-decade period of global trade expansion is ending and we will…
Business: Dan Price and Gravity Payments perhaps not what it seemed
Famous for setting an employee base salary of $70,000/year, Gravity Payments was perhaps not what it seemed: But, in interviews with the Seattle Times, more than two dozen former Gravity…
Demographics: “Value of graduate degrees is going down”
Yep: Another report from the New York Post suggests that students are pursuing graduate degrees to distinguish themselves in the job market. With degree inflation, or the rising percentage of…
Demographics: The end of “everyone needs to go to college”?
The labor shortage is a long-term trend, not a short-term problem. This shortage is caused by smaller cohorts of new young workers due to the collapse of the fertility rate.…
Demographics: Less demand for college degrees
‘Instead of focusing on demonstrated competence, the focus too often has been on a piece of paper,’ Utah governor stated Source: Utah axes degree requirement for 98% of civil servant…
Demographics, Automation: McDonald’s adds more automation to new restaurant form factor concept
The fast-food giant is trying an idea that Starbucks has already been successful with. Source: McDonald’s Launches a Whole New Kind of Restaurant – TheStreet As previously stated here, the…
Demographics, Business, Automation: “Krispy Kreme Outlines Plans to Automate Doughnut Production”
This is how businesses will address the long-term labor shortage: The doughnut maker plans to save $2 million annually by reducing manual labor in some of its shops, its finance…
Public health: CDC says unintended consequence of lockdowns led to increase in Strep A, flu and RSV
CDC now thinks lockdowns and ineffective NPIs are the cause of today’s rise in Step A, flu and RSV cases (which started early this season but appear to have peaked…
Demographics, International: Indians taking on many leadership roles in U.S. businesses
India has 5 times more people in the critical 20-29 age bracket. Stated another way, the top 20% of the young Indian cohort is the same size as that entire…
Business, Economy: Government benefits programs exceed median income in several states
In 14 states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies for a family of four with two people not working amounts to an annualized equivalent of $80,000 a year in wages and…