“More IT means lower salaries for uneducated workers” and other Google Starred Items
Casey Johnston: “The authors of the paper suggest that retraining programs for unskilled workers are in order. However, computers are replacing workers at more and more complicated tasks, and eventually it may be skilled workers that need to make sure they are able to adapt to new technologies, lest they be displaced by them. …Researchers found that salary actually varied inversely with IT penetration: the more computers were involved, the less workers were paid. Highly educated workers are able to offset this effect with the positive influence of education-IT interaction— they can integrate new technologies into their workflow. Less-educated workers, on the other hand, are left blank-faced in front of a computer screen. ” I used to get quite upset when finding myself trapped in an interaction with a person clearly pretending to understand IT technology. But clearly the money talks, making silly ventriloquist dummies out of the politically saavy and I need to get over it.
“High Interest: How to Choose Between Checking, Savings, and CDs”
J.D. Roth: “First, I want to remind you all of one thing: Interest rates aren’t likely to rise until the economy improves. ING Direct doesn’t hate you. Ally Bank isn’t trying to rip you off. We’re just not in a high-interest rate environment right now. The government is keeping rates low because they don’t want you to save—they want you to pump your money into the stock market or the general economy. Until things turn around, we won’t be seeing the high interest rates that were around back in 2006.”
“Citigroup paying $75M to settle civil charges (AP)”
“AP—Banking titan Citigroup Inc. is paying $75 million to settle civil charges that it misled investors about its potential losses from subprime mortgages as the housing bust hit in 2007.”
“Japan’s unadjusted GDP less than China’s: govt (Reuters)”
“Reuters—Japan’s second-quarter GDP was less than China’s before seasonal adjustments, government data showed on Monday, underscoring expectations that China will overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy this year.”
“Tech’s Dark Secret, It’s All About Age”
CmdrTaco: “…‘Universities really should tell engineering students what to expect in the long term and how to manage their technical careers. Citing ex-Microsoft CTO David Vaskevitch’s belief that younger workers have more energy and are sometimes more creative, Wadwha warns that reports of ageism’s death have been greatly exaggerated. While encouraging managers to consider the value of the experience older techies bring, Wadwha also offers some get-real advice to those whose hair is beginning to grey: 1) Move up the ladder into management, architecture, or design; switch to sales or product management; jump ship and become an entrepreneur. 2) If you’re going to stay in programming, realize that the deck is stacked against you, so be prepared to earn less as you gain experience. 3) Keep your skills current—to be coding for a living when you’re 50, you’ll need to be able to out-code the new kids on the block. Wadwha’s piece strikes a chord with 50-something Dave Winer, who calls the rampant ageism ‘really f***ed up,’ adding that, ‘It’s probably the reason why we keep going around in the same loops over and over, because we chuck our experience, wholesale, every ten years or so.’” Tech has darker secrets but this one’s a healthy start…
“Most believe ‘retirement is over’”
BBC: “The coalition also plans to raise the age at which people are eligible to draw the state pension faster than the previous government planned to do. Labour had proposed to raise the state pension age to 66 in 2024, with the pension age eventually reaching 68 by 2046.” This goes back to the days of my grandfather. He had no expectations of retirement, “You work ’til you die.”