These are terms used by NSF (National Science Foundation), BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics), GAO (Government Accountability Office) and so on. I think language is going to 3, 4 letter mnemonics generally these days!
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. So, this is a broad occupational area (jobs) that can include IT to advanced cutting edge research.
S&T is another common use and that stands for Science and Technology.
When manufacturing jobs were exported, High Tech jobs, we were told, would be our bread and butter. And they were, temporarily. Finance jobs became the new 'tech'. But we can see that when we put all our eggs into one basket and rely on one industry to float our economy, we are doomed. What remains is non trade service jobs - jobs that cannot be exported. Jobs like groomers, retail, cleaning services, landscaping, etc.
There was once upon a time a simple distinction between services and products.
That which you could touch and hold was a product, for example a pencil, or a brick...that which you felt or was immaterial in the world of physics was termed a service, for example getting a hair cut or heart transplant.
Some time in recent history the financial wizards decided that they would create "products" out of their services.
I offer a simple example with old fashioned manicures.
Women ( later men) would go in for a cuticle treatment, and had a choice of how long they wanted their nails...short, medium or long. They also had a choice of the three basic primary colors....red, blue, or green. This is not accurate. The choices were all shades of the red spectrum....dark red, light pink, etc.
Now you have a menu of selections which takes the time of a full latte to decide.
Lengths and colors comprise the headings for full chapters in the menu.
What is the occasion, how long do you want the nail to last? What modern acrylic or other manmade material do you wish to use? ( should it be environmentally friendly? What do-dads do you want added... hearts, stars, etc?
In the good old days when my father went to the bank for a mortgage loan there was one choice...later we had flexible vs. fixed rates ( things started to get confusing because there were these things called points)
It seems that every new manager or person with some sort of authority and responsibility must try to "IMPROVE" their job or system
This means more paper work and the appearance of adding something to what people had before. This "value added" concept from the business schools has reached absurd levels in all the SERVICE industries. The most egregious occurs in the financial planning...business...i stress the latter term because I want everyone to know this means money...and there have been layer upon layer of people added to the financial serfvice industry who must get their cut.
Whereas the manufacturing (product) industry made every effort to trim costs and levels of cost...the US and UK are leading the world in this Financial services BUSINESS which really adds nothing to the commerce of vital commodities and exchange of material needs and superfluous plasma screen TV etc
Speculation is a blight...it is uncontrolled greed. There is no concern for the common good. Even the SEC short term restrictions on short selling (080717)sends a signal to the common guy on the street to try and profit from panic and pessimism...
and consequently to foster and feed the downward spiral.....’tis not the way things are supposed to be.
If I am 35 yrs old and want to start a savings/pension program...I have to decide my needs 35 years from now and what "RISKS" I want to take and therefore, what percentage returns.... this charade would make one believe that the Financial Planner...can choose...with some sort t of assurance...that this investment or "PRODUCT" will allow me to achieve my long term goals...
Well, we see that the hedge funds and the sub-prime debacle is rife with lots of smart PhDs with algorithms and complicated calculus...and it all turns out to be smoke and mirrors....Economics is not Physics....BUT we are led to believe that it is....by financial industry leaders and many political figures who benefit by the ruse. These same business leaders who pull down astronomical compensation packages beyond anything that is with in the realm of reason.
lets get back to the old days of simple and realistic expectations.....5% interest was fine... how can we expect 20-40% returns on investment when the mature economies are growing at 3% and inflation is at 2 or 3%; common sense tells even a high school drop out that something is not right. Unless you are a loan shark and usury is the prevailing standard...which means some schmuck ( or a whole society) is getting screwed.
The original honda civics of the 1970s got into the mid 60's mpg - of course they were tiny little two seaters with a two cylinder motorcycle engine and a chain drive
engines from the 1970s got terrific gas mileage. And one of the said stories has been that VW has cornered much of the clean diesel market, and are able to produce cars that get tremendous mileage for the euro market.
yet another great topic for a blog post. I comparison/contrast of MPG (you have to adjust for today's ratings) and cars from 40 years ago. I'm not sure but it seems Honda had a car too that got like 70 mpg or something outrageous. America! To the junk yard we go in search of fuel efficient vehicles!
I am going to try to track it down, but in one of the car magazines there was an article comparing the 70s Toyota Corolla with the current model
A bit surprising that the newer model is several inches longer, wider and taller than the original model and weighs almost 1000 lbs more
The old models were spartan and had few power accessories like steering brakes or air, and most had sticks, todays are loaded with power accesories and automatic
Little wonder that the fuel mileage isn't any better either
is one of the few things that could actually cause Americans to take to the streets en masse and endanger the lives of Senators and Members of Congress. They will print the $$$ or slash military spending to the bone before they renege.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if a significant number of banks fail in the next couple of years, including one or more very large ones. FDIC has already indicating they are making an additional levy on member banks to shore up their funding. But the system as a whole going down? If that happens, hiding the currency in your mattress won't matter.
My Mom's old 94 Geo gets 45 MPG around town and 52 on the hiway - better than most hybrids!
I crack up too when they advertise 25 mpg as fantastic mileage - my old 60's and 70's (pre emission controlled) beaters got at least that
The problem is that they have loaded them up with safety features (a good thing on balance) that added weight as well as more and more power accessories (rob power and ad weight) as well as adding more emission controls (again on balance not a bad thing) without updating engine designs - although some contend that most of the efficiencies to be gained in internal combustion have already been made. Beautique gas blends that have removed additives like lead also have harmed fuel efficiency (however again getting rid of lead has not been a bad thing)
We do need the return of the true economy car - plain jane models with minimal features and fuel efficent engines
I have said this before but a big part of the shift to trucks in the 80s and 90s was that you could still get a basic utilitarian truck in a economical package as they loaded up the cars with more and more geegaws - however nowadays trucks are just as loaded and costly as cars - and as a result reliability, maintainability and economy has suffered
I'm serious. Plain call 'em up, start with your state Congressional members, tell 'em you want them to look into something, make a whine about it. You never know.
My overall impression is while the House Science Committee does try to at least hold some hearings on Academia, for the most part, there is not much spot light on what they are doing.
Sanders, rocks. But believe it or not, I'll bet there are also some conservative Republicans who would be interested in this one as well. Grassley(R-IA) for one.
That is incredibly amusing. That said, to be honest, I will leave them nameless but I have seen posts on certain major blogs where they are generating panic. I mean come on, there is no way people are not going to be able to get their deposits under 100k. I think NDD would back me up on this one, you too. Even in the Great Depression most banks were solvent. What I find even more incredible that anyone would take financial advice from a blog post to the point of making a run on their bank. But, then, I always underestimate the stupidity of mass psychology (the crowd).
Perhaps we need a "hey, what do to with your money if you're worried about a bank failure besides stuff it under your mattress or buy up all of the gold at the Pawn shop and that's not shove it down your pants or pad your bra!" blog post.
But to try to blame the bloggers on IndyMac, ha, ha, ha....it's the bloggers who have been on the case on this implosion for months and months, before Congress I think held one hearing.
I've seen various reports of decoupling from the US economy and using a basket of currencies instead of the US dollar as a reserve currency.
Great post, history is an awesome thing and I had no idea that happened in 1971.
by this. I can't believe that this story hasn't received some coverage from the media.
To the best of my knowledge, not even Lou Dobbs has reported on this.
"Anonymous",
Maybe you can explain how this largess is helping the people of the United States who bankroll this hemorrhage.
Dana
Globalization is a LIE!
These are terms used by NSF (National Science Foundation), BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics), GAO (Government Accountability Office) and so on. I think language is going to 3, 4 letter mnemonics generally these days!
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. So, this is a broad occupational area (jobs) that can include IT to advanced cutting edge research.
S&T is another common use and that stands for Science and Technology.
please forgive my ignorance
I assume STEM stands for science technology engineering math?
When manufacturing jobs were exported, High Tech jobs, we were told, would be our bread and butter. And they were, temporarily. Finance jobs became the new 'tech'. But we can see that when we put all our eggs into one basket and rely on one industry to float our economy, we are doomed. What remains is non trade service jobs - jobs that cannot be exported. Jobs like groomers, retail, cleaning services, landscaping, etc.
The model I was thinking of was the N600 - the predecessor to the Civic and the first US imported Honda car
ARTIFICIAL FINGERNAILS AND THE FINANCIAL CHARADE
There was once upon a time a simple distinction between services and products.
That which you could touch and hold was a product, for example a pencil, or a brick...that which you felt or was immaterial in the world of physics was termed a service, for example getting a hair cut or heart transplant.
Some time in recent history the financial wizards decided that they would create "products" out of their services.
I offer a simple example with old fashioned manicures.
Women ( later men) would go in for a cuticle treatment, and had a choice of how long they wanted their nails...short, medium or long. They also had a choice of the three basic primary colors....red, blue, or green. This is not accurate. The choices were all shades of the red spectrum....dark red, light pink, etc.
Now you have a menu of selections which takes the time of a full latte to decide.
Lengths and colors comprise the headings for full chapters in the menu.
What is the occasion, how long do you want the nail to last? What modern acrylic or other manmade material do you wish to use? ( should it be environmentally friendly? What do-dads do you want added... hearts, stars, etc?
In the good old days when my father went to the bank for a mortgage loan there was one choice...later we had flexible vs. fixed rates ( things started to get confusing because there were these things called points)
It seems that every new manager or person with some sort of authority and responsibility must try to "IMPROVE" their job or system
This means more paper work and the appearance of adding something to what people had before. This "value added" concept from the business schools has reached absurd levels in all the SERVICE industries. The most egregious occurs in the financial planning...business...i stress the latter term because I want everyone to know this means money...and there have been layer upon layer of people added to the financial serfvice industry who must get their cut.
Whereas the manufacturing (product) industry made every effort to trim costs and levels of cost...the US and UK are leading the world in this Financial services BUSINESS which really adds nothing to the commerce of vital commodities and exchange of material needs and superfluous plasma screen TV etc
Speculation is a blight...it is uncontrolled greed. There is no concern for the common good. Even the SEC short term restrictions on short selling (080717)sends a signal to the common guy on the street to try and profit from panic and pessimism...
and consequently to foster and feed the downward spiral.....’tis not the way things are supposed to be.
If I am 35 yrs old and want to start a savings/pension program...I have to decide my needs 35 years from now and what "RISKS" I want to take and therefore, what percentage returns.... this charade would make one believe that the Financial Planner...can choose...with some sort t of assurance...that this investment or "PRODUCT" will allow me to achieve my long term goals...
Well, we see that the hedge funds and the sub-prime debacle is rife with lots of smart PhDs with algorithms and complicated calculus...and it all turns out to be smoke and mirrors....Economics is not Physics....BUT we are led to believe that it is....by financial industry leaders and many political figures who benefit by the ruse. These same business leaders who pull down astronomical compensation packages beyond anything that is with in the realm of reason.
lets get back to the old days of simple and realistic expectations.....5% interest was fine... how can we expect 20-40% returns on investment when the mature economies are growing at 3% and inflation is at 2 or 3%; common sense tells even a high school drop out that something is not right. Unless you are a loan shark and usury is the prevailing standard...which means some schmuck ( or a whole society) is getting screwed.
They stopped selling them last design change or two - supposedly they didn't meet the US "Tier II" std for diesel emissions
Those routinely got 45 mpg or better And they weren't a typical diesel - they had plenty of pep and pickup - if you didn't know it was a diesel.....
The original honda civics of the 1970s got into the mid 60's mpg - of course they were tiny little two seaters with a two cylinder motorcycle engine and a chain drive
but very economical none the less
engines from the 1970s got terrific gas mileage. And one of the said stories has been that VW has cornered much of the clean diesel market, and are able to produce cars that get tremendous mileage for the euro market.
yet another great topic for a blog post. I comparison/contrast of MPG (you have to adjust for today's ratings) and cars from 40 years ago. I'm not sure but it seems Honda had a car too that got like 70 mpg or something outrageous. America! To the junk yard we go in search of fuel efficient vehicles!
I am going to try to track it down, but in one of the car magazines there was an article comparing the 70s Toyota Corolla with the current model
A bit surprising that the newer model is several inches longer, wider and taller than the original model and weighs almost 1000 lbs more
The old models were spartan and had few power accessories like steering brakes or air, and most had sticks, todays are loaded with power accesories and automatic
Little wonder that the fuel mileage isn't any better either
know.
I sort of thought so, but you never know these days.
It's an urban myth.
this, but I've heard that the FDIC has up to 99 years to get you back your money.
Obviously, the time frame at which your money is returned to you matters a great deal.
is one of the few things that could actually cause Americans to take to the streets en masse and endanger the lives of Senators and Members of Congress. They will print the $$$ or slash military spending to the bone before they renege.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if a significant number of banks fail in the next couple of years, including one or more very large ones. FDIC has already indicating they are making an additional levy on member banks to shore up their funding. But the system as a whole going down? If that happens, hiding the currency in your mattress won't matter.
My Mom's old 94 Geo gets 45 MPG around town and 52 on the hiway - better than most hybrids!
I crack up too when they advertise 25 mpg as fantastic mileage - my old 60's and 70's (pre emission controlled) beaters got at least that
The problem is that they have loaded them up with safety features (a good thing on balance) that added weight as well as more and more power accessories (rob power and ad weight) as well as adding more emission controls (again on balance not a bad thing) without updating engine designs - although some contend that most of the efficiencies to be gained in internal combustion have already been made. Beautique gas blends that have removed additives like lead also have harmed fuel efficiency (however again getting rid of lead has not been a bad thing)
We do need the return of the true economy car - plain jane models with minimal features and fuel efficent engines
I have said this before but a big part of the shift to trucks in the 80s and 90s was that you could still get a basic utilitarian truck in a economical package as they loaded up the cars with more and more geegaws - however nowadays trucks are just as loaded and costly as cars - and as a result reliability, maintainability and economy has suffered
I'm serious. Plain call 'em up, start with your state Congressional members, tell 'em you want them to look into something, make a whine about it. You never know.
My overall impression is while the House Science Committee does try to at least hold some hearings on Academia, for the most part, there is not much spot light on what they are doing.
Sanders, rocks. But believe it or not, I'll bet there are also some conservative Republicans who would be interested in this one as well. Grassley(R-IA) for one.
That is incredibly amusing. That said, to be honest, I will leave them nameless but I have seen posts on certain major blogs where they are generating panic. I mean come on, there is no way people are not going to be able to get their deposits under 100k. I think NDD would back me up on this one, you too. Even in the Great Depression most banks were solvent. What I find even more incredible that anyone would take financial advice from a blog post to the point of making a run on their bank. But, then, I always underestimate the stupidity of mass psychology (the crowd).
Perhaps we need a "hey, what do to with your money if you're worried about a bank failure besides stuff it under your mattress or buy up all of the gold at the Pawn shop and that's not shove it down your pants or pad your bra!" blog post.
But to try to blame the bloggers on IndyMac, ha, ha, ha....it's the bloggers who have been on the case on this implosion for months and months, before Congress I think held one hearing.
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