I saw a fascinating WSJ article on Boeing recently, that relates to this.
During the pandemic Boeing wanted to downsize, so being run by Excel-brains, they did a lot of it via early retirements. They got rid of a large portion of their most skilled labor without realizing 1/
that this would be a problem. I mean, labor is labor, the young ones are cheaper, so why not get rid of as many of the expensive old ones as possible?
It took them years to figure out what they had done - since the MBAs didn't understand how Boeing actually built its planes.
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They finally understand that they can't build planes because they got rid of too much skilled labor, while the new hires weren't good enough.
So, as part of their attempted quality cures, they are extending training times,
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and trying to use the older skilled labor they still have as mentors to train the new hires.
Of course, there is a lot more difference between the old and new hires than just experience, but the article didn't go into that.
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I suppose the other explanation is the oldest and most skilled labor were overwhelming white and male, and the younger ones were less so, so getting rid of the skilled labor allowed DEI goals to be achieved.
It was likely both, MBAs reducing expenses while hitting DEI goals.
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of understanding, or that they refuse to consider because they don't like it.
Feminism has conquered much of humanity, and the fundamental tenet is "choice". Women are not obligated to bear children for men, but can choose not to - hence the central importance of abortion.
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This is a world view that is central to the modern world, and that many believe can't be questioned.
We're seeing the first stages of the results on a societal basis, and it's looking grim. When too many women make the individual choice that they can choose not to have children,
I previously written about childless career women as being "Brides of the State". They don't need a man for money, security, food or shelter - so they never marry.
However, they are still in lifetime "marriage" but it is to the State. That inherently means a lot of risk. 1/
If the State fails, or has to slash expenditures, or they lose political control of the State - well, then those women are totally at risk, and this particularly true as they get older. This necessarily comes with the territory of being a Bride of the State.
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Now, we know that being a Bride of the State likely carries with it an appointment with destiny. The future State will not be able to cash all the promises that the current State has written for it. This will be particularly true when the reserve status of the US dollar fails,
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No impossible promises will be broken, and this can be stated with 100% certainty.
The specifics of how the promises will be broken are what we don't yet know.
There is so much anger already about the Boomers, but this is still very early stage.
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The crisis will be substantially worse when Gen X is retired, and as many already anticipate, this is when the impossible contracts start getting broken in a major way
However, it is the people who are the most angry about the Boomers, who will experience the real rat-fucking
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More than that. In the olde days, mortality would occur earlier and often very fast. There were no cures with heart attacks, strokes, cancer, etc. A man would work a physically demanding job to 55 or 62, and then drop dead on the spot.
start to become very frail, and are incapable of working after a certain point in jobs requiring physical labor. I don't know how many little old ladies you, but those tough old birds often make it well into their 90s, and may not have been able to really work in 25-30 years.
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With an average lifespan of 84 years, it is now routine for people to live 15 to 30 years beyond their ability to work physical jobs.
And the medicine to keep them going each one of those years also gets more expensive.
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What the endless anti-Boomer tirades come down to is two things: people live much longer on average than they used to, and the birth rate has slowed way down.
None of this supporting the old was a problem when most people had 3-4 children, before dying by age 60.
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Yes, yes, I get it, screaming about evil Boomers using anecdotal examples is a popular meme / hobby here.
But, for things like the wealth concentration & homeownership rates, well those have always been natural trends over time, but they were exaggerated by people living so long
The financial burden of paying for Social Security & Medicare are from the combination of people living so very long, as well having fewer children.
So long as there are 16+ working adults to support one retiree, everything works. 2-3 current workers? It doesn't work.
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I was thinking about the CHIPS Act when writing the shipbuilding threads.
No nation can be globally competitive while mandating that most jobs be awarded in a racial & gender-based spoils system. A nation that doesn't do that - like China - will outcompete them every time. 1/
The new semiconductors plants are in fact a massive, patronage-based looting of the American people. The national debt is being increased by what can be millions of dollars per new job, with the substantial majority of the new jobs being reserved for nonwhites & women.
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This - of course - means that the new plants will never be globally competitive, and should the massive federal funding ever stop, they would quickly shut down. Typical Dem politics, and the mainstream Repubs are 100% on board as well.
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