Artificial Panic Demand For Jobs

We are in a period right now of an artificial panic demand for jobs. I read an article in the newspaper yesterday telling how people are starting to solve their job crisis situations by not looking for jobs anymore. They've spent so much time and money looking for jobs that don't exist that they're realizing no return on their investment.

The article claimed that the applicants per available job ratio is quadruple what it was during the last three recessions. People are sending their resumes out everywhere in a frantic drive for a job, and employers are being flooded with applicants. This is an artificial supply of applicants, which does nothing more than drive low wages further downward. In addition, businesses are not creating new jobs. Even though there are signs of the economy improving slightly, why would anybody in this economy hire somebody when they can take care of the extra work load by working overtime for more money? The refusal to create new jobs I think is helping to drive the panic.

The artificial panic demand for jobs is similar to the artificial panic demand for homes just a few years ago. As lenders were becoming more loose with lending standards, more people qualified for home loans. So many people were making offers on homes that were rising in price due to the demand that people started making more multiple offers on homes in order to score one acceptance. If an area had 1200 people looking for 1000 homes, it would be one thing if people were making one offer on the home they liked. It would be another for 1200 people to make 10,000 offers on 1000 homes. Each individual home seller would see a flood of offers on his home, and can the price accordingly.

Latest Glasses Fads

Female: Sarah Palin
Male: Joe Maddon?

George Carlin: Baseball and Football

With George Carlin's passing, I'd like to link to my favorite routine of his, Baseball and Football. It is Baptist friendly because it has no profanity...but that's beside the point.

Today I also viewed for the first time his "7 words" clip, or at least it was one of the many derivatives of it. He showed the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the television elite by comparing several of the seven banned words and showing how the worst of them was actually visually, virtually and imaginatively displayed all the time, yet the least offensive of them was never hinted at in all these years. Food for thought from George Carlin.

Car That Runs On Water

I saw a clip of a car created by a Japanese company that runs on plain water. Somehow, electrons from the hydrogen atoms in water molecules are harnessed to create electricity. I wonder how expensive this is and how easy it might be to put cars like this into production. Peak oil? See it here:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8304856&ch=4226714&src=news

RIAA's Lazy Man Payoff

Today in America it seems that the lazier the slob, the greater the payoff in so many ways. The RIAA case against music downloader/sharer Jammie Thomas is one such example. Thomas was sued for $222,000 for sharing 24 songs in "violation" of copyright laws protecting music as intellectual property. The basic premise is that this is theft.

Let me use an analogy to show how absurd this is. Suppose I have a new car, with a car alarm, and I park it in my garage at night, with a house alarm. Somebody breaks in to my house, disarms both the house alarm and the car alarm, and makes off with my car silently while I sleep. Would this be a crime of theft? Of course. Would you feel sorry for me? Of course, because I took every reasonable precaution to make sure my car wouldn't be stolen. Now suppose I left the new car in a dark alley in the worst neighborhood in town with the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition, and somebody took it. Would it be theft? Still, yes. Would you feel sorry for me? Of course not, because my lack of responsibility for my own property invited the theft. You would tell me that it was the most stupid thing I've ever done. Now let's say that in the first case I demand a replacement car from the thief, plus a bit extra for the problems it caused, as a matter of justice. This is reasonable. Then in the second case I demanded several million dollars. This is absurd.

But the second case is the way the music, movie and software industries work in the eyes of the law. Brilliant marketing has placed music and software in every place, easily accessible with common electronic devices, with easy buying access for almost anybody - third parties completely unknown to the "owner" of the product. This has led to unbelievable profits. But this has also led to copying of music at an unprecedented rate. Decades ago, it would have been cost prohibitive to copy music because it would have taken top of the line equipment. Today, such copying is as cheap as anything there is, and it is much easier to do than get in a car and turn the key.

Along with the ownership of private property comes the responsibilty to protect that property. The recording, movie and software industries have done nothing to protect their own property, yet demand the most unjust punishment. I heard a quote from Thomas' attorney on the radio saying that 24 songs at about 99c per song should demand damages at about $24. He's not far from the truth. The bible demands restitution for theft according to what is stolen. Anywhere from 20% above cost to five times cost for an ox. Even if you view her actions as theft (and there is doubt even of this within intellectual property theory debates), Thomas' damages should be about $30.

Mass electronic piracy is the heavy price being paid by the recording insustry for decades of the irresponsible marketing of their own "private property." They refuse to take responsibility, yet demand that others be responsible for their own property at exponentially higher expense. Quit whining, RIAA, and take it like a man.

Here We Go Again

I first heard of the Virginia Tech murders while listening to the radio in my car. I had almost no reaction whatsoever. No shock. No surprise. No sympathy for yet-unknown families of victims. No horror, no outrage, nothing. Just another top-of-the-hour news story.

I think all of those potential reactions were nullified by the realization of what was about to occur. Something much more painful. The endless media spin, analysis and regurgitation of this event for many years to come in every media outlet there is. It only took a few hours for the usual suspects to start babbling their predictable slop. Gun control, armies of therapists sent to help, how could this possibly happen here?. Next will be psychological profiles, irate politicians, and hours of children crying. No, I don't think ill of children crying over a tragedy at all. Just the way that it will be packaged and marketed to us by the media.

As an added note, James Leroy Wilson has some interesting comments over at Independent Country.