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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 00:00
What will it take to put America back to work? Fareed Zakaria travels the globe for answers.
I love Fareed Zakaria's show, it's usually quite informative and interesting. It's on a short notice, so I'm posting it here. [S]Watch it now on CNN, or stream it here if you have no access:
http://www.ilive.to/view/38775/[/S]
Since it finished airing, here's my crappy summary from below (correct if I've made mistakes pls!):
Gonna recall from memory to the best of my ability, someone feel free to correct any facts I may screw up. xD
It looked at different parts of the jobs economy worldwide, using different countries as examples of how different techniques can be used to keep the unemployment rate low and boost the economy overall.
Germany was highlighted for its widespread use of corporate apprenticeship programs. Companies train kids out of high school, the kids get certificates which guarantee work at the company after graduation, and are also recognized in other companies across their industry. This creates far more certainty, ease of entry into the industry, as opposed to what college graduates here in NA often face. The training is free, too. The huge number of highly skilled workers meant German companies stayed competitive, and as such the jobless rate in Germany actually fell during the global recession.
The Netherlands was highlighted for its policy where companies find alternative work positions for employees they no longer need, instead of simply giving said employees the boot. Companies spend great efforts to do this, because laying someone off without finding them an alternate position will mean that the company will have to pay the former employee's EI benefits. Of course, the penalty isn't the only thing keeping this system going--there's also the benefit of keeping the working-age population up to date on their skills and keep it otherwise employable. This means companies can then have an easier time hiring skilled workers, as opposed to how things are in the US, where there's tons of job openings, but said openings stay unfilled because those without jobs in the US are also often without the needed skills.
Dubai was highlighted for its openness to tourism. It's very easy to get a tourist visa to Dubai. In many growing tourism markets, like China, it is very difficult to get a US visa for a Chinese tourist to travel to the US. I think he said there were only 5 places in all of China where a visa can be obtained? With many Chinese needing to "take a trip before they make a trip," many choose not to go. Huge loss of opportunity. And post 9/11 security policies don't help here. I think he said that the tourism industry revenue fell by 1/3 (2/3? not sure, some massive amount) in the US post 9/11. Just restoring it to previous levels would bring an back an estimated 20% of the total jobs lost during the recession. They mentioned that the US does have the capacity to make things right from a business perspective; lame places like Vegas and Orlando are places no one would have bothered to go to if it weren't for the business ingenuity (ie. build casinos and walt disney, or whatever).
He then looked at government investment policy when it comes to boosting jobs in certain sectors; Industrial Policy. Countries like South Korea have used this strategy to take over various markets, like how South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries almost all of the world's commercial ships now, thanks to government subsidies, when just a few decades ago they built none. This however was pointed out to be a dangerous approach that is not popular in the US, due to potential for failure (ie. Sonylndra which pwned US taxpayers when it went bankrupt after receiving a huge gov loan). So instead, New York state (I think he mentioned a specific city, which I forgot) decided to invest in infrastructure (ie. labs?), which attracts high tech companies. The state had to pay for the investment, but the investment paid off in billions in wages paid to workers in the local economy. As a nice bonus, private companies helped fund this as well. This approach is safer because the government doesn't need to bet on any individual company, but rather helps the whole high tech industry in the area.
He then looked at Chicago, where public-private trusts were set up to fund infrastructure projects throughout the city. Basically, the idea is that private investors will help fund government projects in return for fees or other revenue from the completed projects. This is needed because local governments, especially given the uselessness of Washington politics right now, cannot get the funding they need to improve and repair infrastructure. These projects put a lot of people back to work in the construction industry, which was hit the hardest by the recession, and also has the added benefit of having less collapsing bridges and stuff across the country. lol Putting off maintenance work only makes it more expensive later, so it's pretty bad policy to just ignore it.
Finally, Fareed Zakaria gave his own opinion on Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney in terms of jobs. He basically said that both Obama and Romney are correct, but they look at the problem from different angles. Obama focuses on education, while Romney focuses on lowering taxes. What the US needs is both of these policies working together. Sadly, with the "us vs them" of US politics, that seems kind of difficult to achieve. xP
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 00:08
Siemens' apprenticeship program looks pretty cool. We need more of those!
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Osayidan wrote on 2012-09-24 00:09
It's interesting and true so far, question is will it be applied?
The answer is most likely "no".
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 00:15
Damn, so much cooperation between companies in the Netherlands. @_@ They make sure that if an employee is no longer needed at their company, the company will try to find them an opening at another company that does need them.
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Osayidan wrote on 2012-09-24 00:32
North america is being put to shame right now.
Also, so many ads... I haven't watched TV in so long so I'm not used to this garbage.
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 00:41
Well, he did give the US some points on tourism.. before it was crippled. The important part is that it can be fixed relatively easily, for massive gains.
And ads aren't that bad! Lets you walk away and take a break every once in a while. :P
Curious what cool things he'll have to say about Chicago now.
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Froglord wrote on 2012-09-24 00:42
Quote from Yoorah;954854:
[SIZE="5"]Siemens' apprenticeship program[/size] looks pretty cool. We need more of those!
[Image: http://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/SHHH+_39e52bd7a06122bd1768ec07a586b94f.jpg]
Training tadpoles one day at a time!
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 00:50
Are you in it or something? haha
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BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-09-24 01:01
summary please
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 02:15
Gonna recall from memory to the best of my ability, someone feel free to correct any facts I may screw up. xD
It looked at different parts of the jobs economy worldwide, using different countries as examples of how different techniques can be used to keep the unemployment rate low and boost the economy overall.
Germany was highlighted for its widespread use of corporate apprenticeship programs. Companies train kids out of high school, the kids get certificates which guarantee work at the company after graduation, and are also recognized in other companies across their industry. This creates far more certainty, ease of entry into the industry, as opposed to what college graduates here in NA often face. The training is free, too. The huge number of highly skilled workers meant German companies stayed competitive, and as such the jobless rate in Germany actually fell during the global recession.
The Netherlands was highlighted for its policy where companies find alternative work positions for employees they no longer need, instead of simply giving said employees the boot. Companies spend great efforts to do this, because laying someone off without finding them an alternate position will mean that the company will have to pay the former employee's EI benefits. Of course, the penalty isn't the only thing keeping this system going--there's also the benefit of keeping the working-age population up to date on their skills and keep it otherwise employable. This means companies can then have an easier time hiring skilled workers, as opposed to how things are in the US, where there's tons of job openings, but said openings stay unfilled because those without jobs in the US are also often without the needed skills.
Dubai was highlighted for its openness to tourism. It's very easy to get a tourist visa to Dubai. In many growing tourism markets, like China, it is very difficult to get a US visa for a Chinese tourist to travel to the US. I think he said there were only 5 places in all of China where a visa can be obtained? With many Chinese needing to "take a trip before they make a trip," many choose not to go. Huge loss of opportunity. And post 9/11 security policies don't help here. I think he said that the tourism industry revenue fell by 1/3 (2/3? not sure, some massive amount) in the US post 9/11. Just restoring it to previous levels would bring an back an estimated 20% of the total jobs lost during the recession. They mentioned that the US does have the capacity to make things right from a business perspective; lame places like Vegas and Orlando are places no one would have bothered to go to if it weren't for the business ingenuity (ie. build casinos and walt disney, or whatever).
He then looked at government investment policy when it comes to boosting jobs in certain sectors; Industrial Policy. Countries like South Korea have used this strategy to take over various markets, like how South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries almost all of the world's commercial ships now, thanks to government subsidies, when just a few decades ago they built none. This however was pointed out to be a dangerous approach that is not popular in the US, due to potential for failure (ie. Sonylndra which pwned US taxpayers when it went bankrupt after receiving a huge gov loan). So instead, New York state (I think he mentioned a specific city, which I forgot) decided to invest in infrastructure (ie. labs?), which attracts high tech companies. The state had to pay for the investment, but the investment paid off in billions in wages paid to workers in the local economy. As a nice bonus, private companies helped fund this as well. This approach is safer because the government doesn't need to bet on any individual company, but rather helps the whole high tech industry in the area.
He then looked at Chicago, where public-private trusts were set up to fund infrastructure projects throughout the city. Basically, the idea is that private investors will help fund government projects in return for fees or other revenue from the completed projects. This is needed because local governments, especially given the uselessness of Washington politics right now, cannot get the funding they need to improve and repair infrastructure. These projects put a lot of people back to work in the construction industry, which was hit the hardest by the recession, and also has the added benefit of having less collapsing bridges and stuff across the country. lol Putting off maintenance work only makes it more expensive later, so it's pretty bad policy to just ignore it.
Finally, Fareed Zakaria gave his own opinion on Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney in terms of jobs. He basically said that both Obama and Romney are correct, but they look at the problem from different angles. Obama focuses on education, while Romney focuses on lowering taxes. What the US needs is both of these policies working together. Sadly, with the "us vs them" of US politics, that seems kind of difficult to achieve. xP
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Claudia wrote on 2012-09-24 21:26
Argh, Zakaria is too awesome.
And gosh darnit, it was on at 11PM.
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RebeccaBlack wrote on 2012-09-25 01:47
11PM last night? Or tonight?
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paladin wrote on 2012-09-25 01:56
Democrats + republicans har har
Not in a million years
no one has done anything like that since cilntons presidency
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-25 03:23
Quote from Claudia;955258:
Argh, Zakaria is too awesome.
And gosh darnit, it was on at 11PM.
It aired at 8 and re-aired at 11. :(
Quote from RebeccaBlack;955340:
11PM last night? Or tonight?
Last night, sorry! I should edit the title, lol.