What I learned working in a porn store

http://www.salon.com/2011/02/04/working_in_a_porn_store/

Economists Discover the Poor Behave Differently From the Rich

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/economists-discover-the-poor-behave-differently-from-the-rich

Worries about the future

After listening to an audio book version of Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, I find myself worrying  about the future of our economies. Adam noted, that for workers to be treated well by their employers, there needed to be a greater demand for labor than was available.

Much of the past economic growth fueled this continued increase in demand for labor. However, modern technologies have begun to reduce demand for labor by automating once labor intensive industries. There is some speculation (my own, and based on what I've read online) that an increase in demand for skilled labor (mostly of the engineering, design, and entertainment fields) may compensate for it. It appears that for such speculation to bear fruit, getting more people to be skilled in the use of computers, and access to said computers and internet will be vital. Already there has been an emergence of people making money by streaming their experiences playing games for an online audience. Online self-employment may provide a new source of gainful work. However, it is a much more difficult thing, than simply doing what one is told.

If it proves impractical to create a highly desired, and well paid workforce in the future, then the alternative is to increase income redistribution to raise up the living standards of the poor. In the Wealth of Nations, it is observed, that when the labor supply catches up with demand, that workers inevitably fall into poverty as their ability to demand recompense for their labor drops. So, if we can't maintain a sufficiently high demand for the available labor, then the alternative is to make poverty less miserable. Otherwise, much of the world's population will be doomed to barely make enough money to survive.

The one shining star of hope I see: If we can drastically improve education, the quality of the workforce may increase sufficiently to become a highly demanded resource, through their own efforts. This is not so much a visible solution as merely the acknowledgement that if there's good enough education, then people may invent new solutions to the problem. Possibly even entire new industries.


I suppose my hopeful conclusion, is that a mix of all three ideas (increasing labor demand through invention of new jobs, increasing education to improve workforce quality, and providing the poor with a greater basic standard of living) may allow us to avoid the seemingly unstoppable decline of our standard of living. We need aid for the poor to give them access to the tools needed to benefit from a better education, which is needed to enable them to create and invent their own work. We can no longer depend upon companies to give us work. We must make our own work.

How the Brain Creates Personality: A New Theory

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/how-the-brain-creates-personality-a-new-theory/281287/?

7 Homeless People Freeze to Death in Wealthiest Area of the Country

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/7-homeless-people-freeze-death-wealthiest-area-country

Canadian-Based Company Sues Canada Under NAFTA, Saying That Fracking Ban Takes Away Its Expected Profits

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131004/07500724750/canada-hit-with-another-massive-investor-state-dispute-settlement-demand.shtml

On Labeling Women 'Crazy'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harris-oamalley/on-labeling-women-crazy_b_4259779.html?

The great middle-class identity crisis

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/04179370-4741-11e3-b4d3-00144feabdc0.html?

How Does the Economy Actually Work? Ray Dalio Explains

http://freakonomics.com/2013/10/31/how-does-the-economy-actually-work-ray-dalio-explains/

10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How

http://www.policymic.com/articles/71255/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart

Bret Victor The Future of Programming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4

What was considered the future of programming forty years ago, looks a lot like the future of programming now.

"For his recent DBX Conference talk, Victor took attendees back to the year 1973, donning the uniform of an IBM systems engineer of the times, delivering his presentation on an overhead projector."

Why Good Girls Have Become Unicorns: A Response From A Unicorn

http://elitedaily.com/women/good-girls-become-unicorns-response-unicorn/

Why Adolescents Take Crazy Risks

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/altered-states/adolescents-take-crazy-risks-that-make-perfect-sense/

Noam Chomsky: America Hates Its Poor

http://www.alternet.org/visions/noam-chomsky-america-hates-its-poor?page=0%

No one brings dinner when your daughter is an addict.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/11/families_dealing_with_mental_illness_need_support_too.html

The problem with wages:

The wages a person is paid, are determined not by the value of their work, but by how easily they can be replaced.

Why is it always a white guy: The roots of modern, violent rage

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/01/why_is_always_a_white_guy_the_roots_of_modern_violent_rage/

When legal surveillance isn’t enough: NSA hacked the fiber optic links between Google, Yahoo datacenters

http://www.extremetech.com/internet/169924-when-legal-surveillance-isnt-enough-nsa-hacked-the-fiber-optic-links-between-google-yahoo-datacenters

I'm Grateful To The Woman Who Says She Regrets Having Kids

http://www.rolereboot.org/family/details/2013-04-im-grateful-to-the-woman-who-says-she-regrets-having

Economists

I've been listening to some economics lectures recently, and have come to a somewhat worrying conclusion: The field of Economics appears to have a problem. In trying to understand markets, they developed a model so beautiful, that they've been trying to make reality look like the model ever since.