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The Job Shortage Tur |
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| A worker shortage. As recently as early 2003, over two million workers had lost their jobs since the start of the recession in 2001. At 6.2 percent, the national unemployment rate hovered at the highest level it had been in nine years, and the number of new jobless claims lingered above 400,000 for 20 straight weeks. People were screaming about offshoring, downsizing, and a lack of jobs. Little did they realize that they were at the beginning of a new era when skilled workers would be in very short supply and companies would be begging for workers. |
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The Search for Meani |
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| If you were to chart the objective indicators of social welfare since World War Two, you would see an across-the-board increase in such objective measures as per-capita income, ��쐒eal��� income, longevity, cars per driver, phone calls per capita, trips taken, highest degree earned, and even IQ scores. The graphs of subjective indicators like personal freedom, women��셲 freedom, and reduction of bias against minority groups would also show steady trends upward. |
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Mass Affluence |
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| Are Americans living beyond their means in pursuit of luxury ?or has luxury simply become affordable enough for people to enjoy without breaking their budgets? |
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The Long and Short o |
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| We��셶e recently experienced oil price fluctuations that remind us of the economic importance of fossil fuels. But, just how important is petroleum today and going forward? What are the shortterm, medium-term, and long-term trends driving oil prices? What��셲 likely to happen to oil prices and what are the implications? |
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Choice Overload |
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| In today萸� marketplace, consumers are bombarded with more choices than ever ?yet they are increasingly less satisfied. Whether they are buying a car, choosing a cell phone plan, ordering a beverage at Starbucks, or selecting a breakfast cereal at the supermarket, Americans are finding that simple decisions have turned complicated, time-consuming, and confusing. |
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