28-Demographics: Is the decline good or bad?
Is the decline in the global fertility rate a good thing or a bad thing? Perhaps it is neither – it is what it is. The Plus Side From one…
27-Demographics: Australia seeks more immigrants to solve worker shortage
They blame the pandemic but ignore the other problem – Australia’s fertility rate is less than 1.8, meaning negative population growth from births. Australia shut its borders for more than…
20-Demographics: Immigration now largest component of U.S. population growth
Interesting figures – overall, just under 15% of the U.S. population was born elsewhere but note this: About 1 in 5 Americans between the ages of 40 and 64 was…
Part 19 – Population Demographics: In 20 years, 100% of U.S. population growth will come from immigration
Almost all U.S. population growth over next 20 years will come from immigration, and after 20 years, 100% will come from immigration. Over the next three decades, the report predicts…
How to pretend you are saving money by purchasing Electric Buses
At first glance, this sounds good – high upfront costs but dramatic savings in operational/variable costs: From the PGE site, we learn that diesel buses are about $90K to buy…
Panera Bread testing voice recognition tech for drive thru orders
Automation will place increasingly large roles in fast food services: Two Panera Bread locations in upstate New York are testing artificial intelligence technology that takes drive-thru orders. Source: Panera Bread…
Demographics 15: “The Unexpected Future”
The “experts” who predict the future were wrong again: We are entering an unanticipated reality—an era of slow population growth and, increasingly, demographic decline that will shape our future in…
Part 9 – Population Demographics: “Pilot shortage prompts proposals to raise retirement age, lower training hours. : NPR”
So to address the shortage, some in the industry and in Congress are calling for some big changes. Among them are raising the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to…
Why politicians think everything can be solved with a government program
I started my career with a B.S. in computer science and worked for software (mostly) companies during most of my career. When you work in the industry, everything in the…
Interesting: Tax Burden by State
Comprehensive table examines taxes, by state, taking into account property, income, sales and other taxes. Source: Tax Burden by State All tax estimates have underlying assumptions. The tax burden for…