Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to get a check

Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout and tech billionaire creator of Facebook, called for looking at "Universal Basic Income," in his Harvard commencement speech a few days ago.  Here's a guy who made an incredible fortune in his 20's by writing a program initially designed to meet hot girls at Harvard.  He's really, really smart.  He had a great idea, and worked hard with many other people, for several years, to make it happen.  Yet, he has the audacity to say that luck played an important part in his success.  That's pretty freakin' amazing.

So what is "Universal Basic Income?"  It's the idea that every single person in the country should get a basic income from the government.  Yeah, a multi-billionaire is saying you deserve a check just for being a human being.

Why is he supporting looking into this idea?   Because a small group of people, mostly really smart people, look to the future we're heading towards.  One of the big issues they see, and the issue that sparked this blog for me, is that machines and software are quickly replacing human jobs.  Nobody who looks into the issue seriously, is sure how we will out the whole population to work in the next 10-20-30 years.  There just aren't going to be enough jobs, pure and simple.

At the same time, small groups of people, like Mark's initial crew at Facebook, are able to create tens of billions of dollars of value with their company in a few short years. They realize that they can't spend all that money on golf courses, call girls, yachts, gold plated urinals, and stuff like that.  These people are looking to put a chunk of that wealth back into the system to being millions out of poverty and level the playing field in the economic world.  Obviously, the people who have rigged that playing field in their favor for generations aren't stoked on this idea. 

Personally, I'm not sold on Universal Basic Income, and I've spent years homeless while working full time, and way beyond full time.  My first thought is turning us into a nation full of people sitting on the couch, getting stoned, and playing video games all day.  But around here, so many people scam to get a Social Security disability check (who don't truly deserve it), that it's be cool if the hard working and motivated people also got a check.  A lot of people would do a lot of really cool things if they could get beyond financial instability.

Personally, my focus these days is to help people build and grow the small creative scenes that give people an outlet for their energy and creativity.  Those scenes often turn into new businesses and new jobs, and sometimes entire new industries.  But I am really glad a group of really smart, really wealthy, forward looking people are thinking about this concept.  What do you think?

More tech and less human jobs in the future

I hit working age in the mid 1980's, and I got hired for every single job I applied for until age 27 or 28.  I was completely unqualified for most of the jobs, but I adapted quickly and did well at most of them.

It's a whole different world now.  This WIRED clip from a couple of days ago hits on a huge issue that very few people are talking about.  Technology changed the taxi industry in the 2000's (before Uber and Lyft), and I could no longer make a living, and became homeless.  I know what it's like to get wiped out by new technology.

I've haven't had a regular job for years now.  As I started looking into this issue, I came to the conclusion that MILLIONS of Americans will have to create their own jobs in the next several years.  There's no way around it.  That's what this blog is about. 

Seth Godin on the courage to connect

This one hit home for me.  I just spent three days putting together a blogpost for my old school BMX blog.  Only about 100 people checked it out.  That's not bad.  But I spent a lot of time on the post, but didn't put anything personal into it, just a great selection of links of clips form years ago. 

It's easy these days to create media.  But actually connecting with other people, that's another thing.  A scary thing.

Hey, guess what? Lots of Red States would take a big hit from the Trump Budget

In this CNBC article today, we see how Trump's budget, if actually passed, would hit a lot of red states hard.  Medicare, SNAP (aka food stamps), Social Security Disability, they're all looking at big cuts in his agenda.

I file this under the "Duh!" category.  But then, I actually read books articles about economics.  I never understood why so many working people voted for Trump when it was pretty obvious they would be hard hit by his inevitable plans. 

A great idea for an abandoned Walmart

Just saw this on Facebook thanks to a share from Scotty Z.  This town took an abandoned Walmart and turned it into a huge, and amazingly cool, library.  There are over 3,500 retail stores closing down this year.  We need lots more of this kind of thinking.

Baby Boomers, Millennials, and the the future of real estate

It's not often that I'll share ideas from from a millennial, but this guy shares some really great thinking in this clip.  Will the younger generations' crushing student debt keep them from buying houses, and make the housing market drag along in most areas?  He could be right to a great degree.  I don't agree with everything he says here, but I think he shares a great piece of our financial/social puzzle. 

Seth Godin on the end of the Industrial Age and more

This 2012 clip is my favorite Seth Godin clip on You Tube.  In 8 minutes he blast through a whole series of great topics, the main one being, "Step up and do your own thing."  More than anything, Seth gets out the end of the Industrial Age is forcing a revolution on our society, and how the internet and newer types of marketing play into that.  Just watch.

Latest retail store closings list from May 2, 2017

In this latest list of retail store closings, clark.com's list now includes 3,583 stores closing THIS YEAR.  Most of these stores haven't actually closed yet, so we're not seeing the ripple effects on other stores, but those effects will come later in the year. 

A better than expected "jobs created" number just came out, and Wall Street is still thinking things are going along fine.  In addition, Republicans are working on a bill that would repeal many of the financial industry regulations put in place after The great Recession of 2008.  In other words, we're being set up for another, similar collapse in the future.

U.S. Economic Growth Slowing In Early 2017

In this clip you can see the official news by Bloomberg (business news) that the U.S. economy has slowed in early 2017.  The economy grew by .5%, slower than the 1% expected.  Here's an overly simple analogy.  If the economy is a bath tub with 100 gallons of water in it, economists would like to see the amount of water grow by 3 to 4 gallons (3-4%) every year.  In the first three months of 2017, it grew by 1/2 gallon. 

Over the past 8 years, under the Obama administration, the economy has been growing by about 2.1% a year, or 2 gallons in our imaginary bath tub.  That's slower than most people would like, but at least it was growing slowly. 

So what is a recession?  The old, traditional definition, and still the British official definition, is when the economy shrinks two quarters in a row.  So if our bath tub loses any water for six months in a row, that USED TO BE the official definition or a recession.  But the U.S. now uses a special group and all kinds of complex stats to officially call a recession.  The reason for this is simple, when we go into a recession, they can manipulate the data and say we're not really in one, hoping it'll pass and no one will notice.  As soon as an official recession is called, people freak, and things usually get worse. 

In addition to the economy slowing down its growth the last few months, the Federal Reserve, the (unconstitutional) organization that prints our money and sets official interest rates, is going to raise interest rates at least twice more this year.  That will slow the economy more in all likelihood. 

So what does all this mean to you?  The economy is slowing down under Trump, but to be fair, the president really doesn't do much to the economy overall.  If Trump and Congress can get the major infrastructure plan going (rebuilding roads, bridges, internet hardware, etc.), that will help a lot.  If Trump and Congress can get multinational corporations to bring the 2 trillion dollars they have in other countries back into the U.S., that would help to some extent. 

But in my humble opinion, Trump has shown himself to be completely and utterly incompetent, and both political parties were shattered in the 2016 election cycle.  Trump found a huge, disgruntled group of Republicans, and Bernie Sanders found a huge disgruntled group of Democrats.  The old leadership of both parties is completely out of touch with most Americans, and they can't get shit done because they're fighting among themselves. 

My take is that the 2017 recession will actually start sometime between now and this fall.  By the old definition, it will be an official recession by either late 2017 or April 2018.  But the U.S. financial world will not actually admit there's a recession until late 2018. 

If there's a quick and serious crash of the stock markets (which is coming before too long) or another 3,000 to 5,000 retails stores close this year, or the student loan debt SLAB's start to collapse, it could all happen sooner and in a quick fashion. 

Yes, this is bad news to most people.  But it's good news to entrepreneurs and people working in fast growing and disruptive industries.  In any case, buckle up, there's a roller coaster ride in our future.