What we must do to save the economy
For several years now I’ve been chronicling the decline of the economy through irresponsible lending and saying that when housing prices stabilize, then and only then will we get a chance to see the economy recover. That’s no longer the linchpin of the operation, the keystone in the construction. What the economy needs now more than ever, even more than stabilized housing prices, is:
JOBS
In an economy that relies on spending and consumption as the engine of growth, jobs are the gasoline. No gas, and it doesn’t matter what shape the engine is in or how robust it is – you’re not going anywhere. We need jobs more than anything. Only there’s a catch: as a country, we don’t make a lot of stuff any more. Most of our consumer goods are manufactured somewhere else. Even our food supply is partially outsourced. Without a base of making something, we have no prospects for growth besides relying on government spending.
So how do we create jobs? More important, how do we create jobs that will pay well enough for a living wage and for families to afford college?
Ultimately, value comes from having something that someone else wants. We can try to bring back manufacturing onshore, but most consumers don’t want the commodities they get now at much higher prices. No, the answer has to come from innovation, idea creation and implementation, and entrepreneurship. Luckily, we don’t have to wait for the government to fund good ideas.
What does this mean for you? In a declining economy, if you’re in college, obviously complete your degree if you can, but also take the time to lay the groundwork for life after college. Network, attend conferences, hang out with people smarter than you and more experienced than you. Find a mentor.
Start looking around for things people need but don’t have, and don’t even know they need. Dutch Boy reinvented the paint industry by putting a simple spout on a paint can. Not super high tech, but it served a need no one else was serving. Prego and Howard Moskowitz created chunky spaghetti sauce in the early 1980s and ran away with the spaghetti sauce market because people wanted chunky spaghetti sauce but didn’t know it. What needs do your peers have that they don’t know about?
Innovation breeds need, which breeds jobs because a popular product vastly outstrips a single person’s ability to create it. If a thousand college students or graduates created ideas that needed a workforce of 100 to manage, you’d make a dent in the jobs situation. If a million college students created ideas that needed a workforce of 10, we’d erase the jobs decline of the last few years completely.
Go invent. Go innovate. It may be the best job security you’ll ever have.
Did you enjoy this? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day.
+
+
+
Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Online degrees programs and directories at Edvisors.com
+ Free college scholarships contests!
+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans
+ Private student loans
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Chris, what a great post. I do tire of constant doom and gloom. Crisis = danger + opportunity. The future belongs to the creative, the communicators and those who “see a need, fill a need.” (Stole that from the Robots movie – but it’s a great motto for these times!) I’m honestly excited about the prospects for innovation, collaboration and ingenuity that the economy will provoke.
Leave your response!