Business Trends

Scary Charts – Labor Force Participation At Lowest Since 1984

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The NFP report confirms the picture we have all known to grow and love – the people “entering” the labor force are temp workers, those with marginal job skills, and making the lowest wages. For everyone else: better luck elsewhere: the number of people not in the labor force has soared by 7.5 million since January 2007, and the average duration of unemployment is 40.8 weeks – essentially in line with last month’s record 40.9. Bottom line – if you are out of a job, you are out of a job unless you are willing to trade down to an entry level “temp-like” position with virtually no benefits or job security.

NFP Payrolls At 200K, Expected At 155K; Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.5%, Labor Force Participation At Lowest Since 1984 | ZeroHedge.

Click the link for the charts.  In prior posts I’ve reproduced Scary Charts on my website.  For these charts I’d like my readers to go to the source, especially if you have never read Zero Hedge.

I spend a lot of my “free” time catching up on the news.  Saturday mornings are my favorite time to catch up on news, think, and reflect.  We all need time to think deeply.

Seth’s Blog: The chance of a lifetime

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The thing is, we still live in a world that’s filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity — we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To find ideas that matter and to share them. To push ourselves and the people around us to demonstrate gratitude, insight, and inspiration. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing.

via Seth’s Blog: The chance of a lifetime.

Over 700,000 Android Devices Activated Daily

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Google’s Andy Rubin: Over 700,000 Android devices activated daily – latimes.com.

Android-powered devices are the No.1 target for cyber crooks in the mobile phone arena. Popular bill-paying methods and apps on smartphones are expected to be major targets.

via Smartphones offer easy access to malware purveyors | Herald Sun.

OK. I’ll admit to writing somewhat smugly about not owning or using a smartphone in a post two weeks ago.  I’m glad I didn’t make a comment about never owning or using a smartphone because I am now one of the 700,000 Androids that get activated daily.

Resistance is futile.  But you still have to be smart about how you use your smartphone.  See the second link above.

Change This – The Promise of Entrepreneurship

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We are made to believe that when it comes to business success, bigger is always better. In our super-sized, consumption-oriented culture, not even small business is exempt from the pressure to grow for growth’s sake. We fixate on top-line revenue growth and increasing numbers of employees and locations. We pepper entrepreneurs with questions such as, ‘What are your plans for expansion? What’s next? How many cities will you go to?’ instead of asking what their goals are or why they started their business in the first place. When talk about growth we focus on speed, not sustainability. When we talk about success we focus on size, not satisfaction.

via Change This – The Promise of Entrepreneurship.

From the Change This website:

Adelaide Lancaster is the co-founder of In Good Company, a community, business learning center and coworking space for women entrepreneurs in Manhattan. She is a small business expert and has advised thousands of women entrepreneurs on how to create businesses that meet their needs and keep them satisfied over time. She earned two graduate degrees in psychology from Columbia University and her undergraduate degree from Colgate University. ingoodcompany.com

GYL here – this manifesto really hit home for me.  I am 5.5 years down the Path and I would have to say the effort and sacrifice is worth it.  So if you’re on your Path or if you are not and considering getting on your own Path, you ought to read this.  The link takes you to the Change This website.  Once there you can download a PDF of the manifesto.

 

 

Facebook Is Making Us Miserable – Harvard Business Review

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Facebook is negatively affecting what psychology Professor Jeffrey Parker refers to as “the closeness properties of friendship.”

via Facebook Is Making Us Miserable – Daniel Gulati – Harvard Business Review.

Please note I am not the author of the HBR blog article so please don’t shoot the messenger.  I’m neither a huge fan nor harsh critic of what the pundits term as “the dominant communication platform of the future”.  I simply don’t use Facebook a lot.  I don’t have a smart phone.  I have a dumb phone.  I don’t use an iPad.  I use an old-fashioned laptop if necessary.

If anyone wishes to communicate with me, email or phone works just fine thank you.

Or we could meet in person!

 

Bob MacDonald on What’s So Hard about Doing the Right Thing?

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In the abstract it is easy to say that doing the right thing is – at the very least – reporting the improper activity. But what if your report seems to be ignored? Are you off the hook and have no further responsibility? Even worse, if you do report it and your boss survives with nothing more than a reprimand, what might this do to your personal well-being and your future with the company? In theory, of course, you could quit your job and find another; but in this economy, is that possible? Is now the right time to put you and your family’s financial future at risk? You could go halfway and say nothing while you look for another job, but is that the right thing to do?  This type of enigma is not an academic exercise. Anyone who has ever been in the business world, with ambitions to be successful and rise up the pyramid and support a family knows this type situation – and a wide variety of others – is more reality than theory. The real questions are: At what point are you willing to dilute or even trade in “doing the right thing,” to protect your career by “going along to get along”? At what point do you break and become willing to rationalize the elements of “doing the right thing?”

via What’s So Hard about Doing the Right Thing?.

Bob’s right.  Read his entire blog post to understand why it is not easy to do the right thing.  Thanks Bob and please keep writing and sharing.