tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80461208007891979402024-03-18T15:47:29.682-05:00The Echo Boom BombResearching Millennials, iGenZ and the AutoMonsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-90006757809128401572024-03-18T06:00:00.007-05:002024-03-18T09:26:58.532-05:00Mark the Plumber On Success, Work and Early Retirement
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<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Background</span></p>
<p>A few years ago, I visited a store to search for a pluming solution. I ran into Mark, who became an instant friend and we've stayed connected since then. Mark had already retired from being a plumber and is one of the few Millennials I ever met who dropped out of high school. One big difference with Mark that I shared with him was that he had much lower self-esteem than the average Millennial (a generation who were raised to think they were special). This actually worked to his advantage as you'll read and he and I both agree that his story shows that high self-esteem has little to do with success. Mark is a great guy, but he's not on social media because he doesn't think his life is that interesting to be on it. I love the self-honesty!</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Had To Ask...</span></p>
<p><strong>While many Millennials piled into college (about 40-45%), you dropped out of high school during your freshman year and became a plumber. When we first met, your story differed significantly from many Millennials. What made you decide to drop out of high school and become a plumber?</strong></p>
<p>I'm the dumber kid of my family. My brothers and sisters are much smarter than I am. My mom made sure that I knew this growing up. She used to tell me all the time that I wasn't going to add up to much because I learned really slow. I would read for five minutes and get bored and I really struggled with memorization. I could repeat something a hundred times and still not remember it. Some of it is that my mom is right and I am kind of slow when it comes to information. Some of it is also I hate learning stuff I don't use. I still don't know why I had to learn how to diagram a sentence. I have never used that and will never use that. I almost feel like school was killing time.</p>
<p>Before my freshman year, my friend's dad was a plumber and ran his own business. I wanted to learn so I asked if he could teach me and I'd be willing to do whatever. He was more than willing to teach me and he even started paying me for helping with his projects. My freshman year of high school continued to bore me so I had to decide between continuing to learn things I didn't want to know or make money that I could use. I saw immediate use for the money I was making, but I still don't know why I had to learn all the nonsense in school. So I dropped out. At the time, my mom used it as proof that I would never make it in life. She even told me that I would eventually realize that I had made the wrong choice. I didn't care because school was so boring and to this day, I don't regret it because I don't see how people who went to finished high school and went to college made a better choice than I did.</p>
<p><strong>We've overvalued education to a point that it's become oversaturated and pointless. Historically, many kids would have been done with education at 12 and started working. Once you dropped out of high school, how were you able to manage working while your mom didn't approve?</strong></p>
<p>I kind of lucked out the first year because my mom enjoyed telling me I was dumb and it stopped there. Since my friend's dad lived in our neighborhood, I worked as much as I could. I managed to make a good amount of money my first year but the real success was the experience I gained. I tried learning everything I could and it paid off big. By the end of my first year, I was able to take on challenging commercial projects - those are where we make good money. He would show me how he worked on a problem and I would jump on it. I kept feeling like the more I could do, the more I could make.</p>
<p>That's when my mom tried getting in the way and stopping me from continuing. Looking back, it's clear to me that she got angry when I started to out-earn her plus some of her friends were making comments about her having a high school dropout. She didn't like that and she tried to force me to go back to school. I was going to return to school and the situation got really bad. At one point, she physically attacked me to where it became noticeable to everyone. At least my mom realized that she crossed a line, but my friend's dad stepped in at that point and I was able to live with him. I planned to move out as soon as I could, but he was great because he told me that it made more sense to live with them until I was ready to be on my own. That allowed me to save a lot of money. To this day, I am grateful to him because he is the biggest reason for my success and he thinks I've alwasy been an amazing worker.</p>
<p><strong>Mentors are key. Plus, you were able to work when Millennials were in high school and then some Millennials went to college. They were delaying pay while you were earning it. How were you able to eventually go into business for yourself?</strong></p>
<p>I worked under my dad's friend for about seven years and would take on as many project as possible. He paid me extremely well, but we had very few plumbers in our area and few wanted to become a plumber, so the abundance of work allowed him to retire early. He wanted more freedom to travel, so his final year, he taught me more about the business, marketing and tax side of things. In thinking about it now, it's funny how I learned all this information about managing money for taxes, inventory and other related expenses, but we never discussed this stuff in school. It's so weird. What do people even do with all the stuff they learn in school? I still don't know. Like, when am I going to diagram a sentence as an adult?</p>
<p>After that, I was one of the few plumbers in the area and the demand was crazy. There was more projects than I had time. I tried hiring others, but what a nightmare! You and I have talked about this, but Millennials have no work ethic. They would get hired, work the first day, then call in sick and I wouldn't hear from them after a week. It was crazy. What's odd is that many of them would end up working a job that paid less, but it was some desk job. I do not understand someone who wants to get paid to sit around.</p>
<p>I struggled with hiring people for a while and finally gave up and am glad I did. I had to be honest with myself about how much work I could do and would do because I know I wasn't going to have help. I set higher prices and started making money good money plus was able to eliminate the projects that couldn't pay as much as I wanted. I retired before I turned 29, but even now I take some projects that I either enjoy or pay a rate that I'm willing to work. The difference is that instead of working 70-80 hour work weeks, I work about 10 hours a week overall.</p>
<p><strong>That's the part about your story that stuns our Millennial friends the most. They can't believe someone can retire at 29 without being a trust fund kid. I like to point out our friends that about a decade ago, I was speaking at a financial event and I asked the bankers in the room how many of them would be proud if their sons became plumbers or electricians. No one in the audience raised their hand. Yet all of them had used running water and electricity that day! Our generation (and iGenZ too), does not have any concept of what we're actually demanding daily versus what we're saying has value. This is the result - a job that's in a shortage even with high wages.</strong></p>
<p>But you still have people who won't do the work even with high wages. I hired people who quit working and would go work for some other easier job making half the wages. It's like they prefer easy work even if the easy work doesn't pay much. I'll never forget this one guy I hired. He picked up what I taught him pretty quickly. But after a month, he didn't want to do the work anymore and he didn't show up or even call and say that he quit. I ran into him later and he told me he worked doing some security job where he'd sit at a desk all day. He made less than half what I was paying him, but he told me that his job was easier even when I asked him if he would want to come back and work. Most people didn't want to do the work and I discovered that I hated managing people.</p>
<p>What made me finally stop is I had a friend who was also struggling to hire people and one guy claimed that he was injured on the job and sued. That scared me because he had to go to court over the situation. Hiring people is a job in and of itself and I just didn't have time to do that plus balance work.</p>
<p>I'm lucky because when everyone needs a plumber and there aren't many plumbers, I could simply say no. In hindsight, that was a big part of how I was able to charge high prices and retire early. Even now, I can select the projects I want because there's still a shortage! Plus, I've worked with many people over the years who really value my work and know that I'll do well. Credibility is a big factor in plumbing.</p>
<p><strong>Working in the right field was a big factor in your financial success. Saving money also sounds like it played a huge role in your financial success. What are some other things that played a role in your success?</strong></p>
<p>When you work a lot, you save a lot because you don't have time to spend. Kind of the opposite of our friends who spent a year traveling and spent six figures doing so. I know they had fun, but now they feel like it set them back. I didn't have options like that because I had to work. I have been blessed with some great friends who pointed me to Dave Ramsey, so I was able to invest following his advice. At some point, you have to grow your wealth and I had enough saved early. Working many hours stops a lot of stupid financial decisions so that probably played the biggest role.</p>
<p>Now that I'm older, I think being single also did some as well. Plumbing is a mostly male profession and as I've met other plumbers, I've seen some nasty divorces. My friend's dad ended up going through one himself. To be honest with you, at one point I wanted to marry but I'm glad I never did. Many of my friends who didn't go to college are either divorced or their wives don't respect them at all. Maybe this bugs me because my mom always thought I was dumb, but I don't enjoy being around people who don't respect me as a person. Even when I've dated girls in the past, they would ask me what I really wanted to do, as if there was something wrong with plumbing. Or I've had girls who asked me if I would go back to school almost like they were saying there's something wrong with not graduating high school.</p>
<p><strong>Women are generally more concerned with other people's perception than men. Add to that what Saint Paul says, "Knowledge puffeth up" so you get a person who thinks highly of themself and cares about other people's perceptions. Given that most Millennial women are highly educated, that's a very common combination.</strong></p>
<p>All of my teachers in high school and junior high were all women and I don't think any of them thought I was very smart. I can remember a few who agreed with my mom in that they thought I was dumb. I don't think I was ever cut out for education because I'm a D or F student at best. I remember one teacher asking me that, "Do you want to be a D student the rest of your life?" But I also don't get what we were even learning most of the time or why I would care. Women seem to enjoy that more too, like all the girls in my class would answer the questions while I was wondering why did anyone care. Trivia bores the heck out of me.</p>
<p>It may be because I work with a lot of men that I don't really value or need to know things I don't need to know, if that makes sense. I can't think of any conversation I've had with other men in my work where random trivia came up. No offense to the men who are educated, but they're the only ones I know who sit around and talk about this stuff. I don't need to know that you can manufacture and ship good easier by the Rhine River than by wherever because I don't work in manufacturing and I don't plan to. It's not important. Men seem to only say what's necessary when I'm working whereas women share lots of details about whatever the situation is.</p>
<p><strong>You highlight a big problem with modern education that's impacting male enrollments in education - too many women. That's part of why education has lost men and I've been warning institutions about this for a while. Men don't see male teachers and assume education isn't for them. Regardless, right now the blue collar world is great for men plus it's in high demand. Like you said, no one wants to do physical work anymore so you have little competition. What advice would you suggest for young men interested in blue collar fields?</strong></p>
<p>Honestly, be willing to do the work. That's rare. There's probably a lot of people willing to show you how to do the work, but it's a waste of time to invest in someone who quits after a week or two. I have a lot of respect for people who hire people, but I would never go back to that. I hated it. I did work recently with a young man, but the big reason was that I didn't need to teach him much, I could just tell him what needed to be done and he would do it. That and he was the son of the business owner. Like I said about my friend's lawsuit, I wouldn't hire people because of all the legal stuff. Lawsuits are no joke.</p>
<p>Be enthusiastic about learning new things related to the job. It's so easy to each people something when they're excited about it. My friend's dad told me early on that I was extremely easy to teach because I wanted to learn. For me, I felt like plumbing was my only path to a good life so I had to learn it. I didn't have options. My brothers and sisters are much smarter than I am and have many options to succeed. I didn't! But now that I think about it, if you want to learn and show enthusiasm, you become easy to teach.</p>
<p><strong>And you're still not on social media, so people can't find you anywhere?</strong></p>
<p>You have to think your life is interesting to be on social media. I honestly don't get that stuff. I'm not a smart guy so anything I have to say or show isn't that interesting. Plus you know this - I'm a flesh-and-blood guy. All of you with your Facebook friends, not for me. People have to be present with me and can't take shortcuts if they want to hang out.</p>
<p><strong>If you ever join, I'll be sure to add your information here.</strong></p>
<!-- END: interview -->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-14164507037706032342024-03-01T08:00:00.035-06:002024-03-18T15:26:59.316-05:00Review<p>Coming soon</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">Quick Acknowledgement</span></p>
<p>A quick thank you to all the people I've spoken to over the past two decades - from the Silent Generation all the way to the AutoMons. It has been an absolute pleasure to meet everyone and hear your life story. I share more details on this thanks in the ending part of this post.</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">Terminology</span></p>
<p><strong>Echo Boomer/Millennial/Generation Y</strong> <em>1981 - 1995</em>. The term "echo boom" comes from the demographic observation that Echo Boomers are a massive generation in size, while Generation Y is the title because Echo Boomers follow Generation X. I generally tend to use Echo Boomer as the noun, Millennial as the adjective, and Generation Y as the title when talking about Echo Boomers - these individuals are all the same in terms of people born between 1981 and 1995 (you will see that I sometimes include 1980 in my posts). Unfortunately, I do not always do this consistently, so you will sometimes see Millennials as a noun. However, they are all the same.</p>
<p><strong>iGenZ/Generation Z</strong> <em>1996 - 2010</em>. This is the internet generation that follows Echo Boomers. As a generation they only know of a world with the internet. I call this generation iGenZ for this reason (shortened version of Internet Generation Z). I generally tend to use iGenZ as the noun and Generation Z as the title for this generation - these individuals are all the same in terms of people being born between 1996 and 2010. I do not share most of my research publicly on this generation as my predictions with Echo Boomers were extremely successful and I am replicating that success with iGenZ privately. Unlike Echo Boomers, my research with iGenZ has been global, mostly with Asian iGenZ.</p>
<p><strong>AutoMons/Generation Alpha/Generation A</strong> <em>2011 - 2025</em>. I refer to this generation as AutoMons (The Automation Monoculture Generation), as they were born in a world where significant automation will be the norm - 3d printing, artificial intelligence, etc. They also show early signs of shifting toward social monoculture, which is where I get the Mons in AutoMons.</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Prediction: Education Bubble and Regret</span></p>
<p>I predicted that at least 25% of Echo Boomers would regret attending college and <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-will-higher-education-bubble-pop.html" target="_blank">cautioned that Echo Boomers' stories about attending college might someday mirror what we heard during the housing bubble</a>. At the time of this prediction, former Generations such as the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers and Generation X had less than 5% of their generational members regret attending college, so I had a lot of people argue that I was predicting a big shift. However, as of my research over the years of 2021 and 2022, 37% of Echo Boomers have told me that they regretted attending college. Let me repeat a point I made which we are now seeing:</p>
<blockquote>The perception of education changes. Echo Boomers were inculcated with "get a degree" messages from everywhere. As Echo Boomers mature and make less money than they expected, they will communicate their disappointment with education to the next generation. Unless Echo Boomers look back on education with rose color glasses, the next generation will hold a different outlook on education than their parents.</blockquote>
<p>In addition to the 37% of Echo Boomers who regret attending college, I found that almost one-third (33%) of Echo Boomers report being underemployed with a degree. Undermployment in this context either means they have a degree and no job or they have a degree but are only finding part time or internship work. On a related point here, the only educational path that is not in an education bubble (still!) is <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/07/med-school-blows-past-education-bubble.html" target="_blank">medicine</a>.</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Prediction: Healthcare</span></p>
<p>In the post <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/07/med-school-blows-past-education-bubble.html" target="_blank">Med School Blows Past the Education Bubble</a> I remarked that medical school would blow past most college degrees since medical school was in a shortage and other degrees were not. This has held correct and in fact, medical wages have significantly outpaced other industries. Some doctors are now making more money than CEOs of medium to large sized companies - it's almost insane to see these wages until you realize the shortage in medicine. I also noted in the past that the USA graduates almost as many lawyers as doctors and lawyers keep trying to add complexity to the system, which has only increased costs. Finally, the anti-male sentiment in the USA has caught up with the country. Hard working young men do not enter medical school, nor want to. College is as anti-male as it comes and young men are wise to avoid American colleges (Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Indian and other colleges in Asia make much better places for young men to attend college).</p>
<p>Not only did my post age well in terms of how much money doctors make, it aged extremely well when you look at life expectancies of Americans: it's plummeting. Americans are dying faster and their healthcare costs are skyrocketing. I did warn you it was coming! Even the <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-president-sounds-alarm-national-physician-shortage" target="_blank">American Medical Association</a> is forced to agree with what I cautioned (and note too that they're even talking about the extreme bureaucracy with examples such as "Physicians today, on average, spend about two hours on paperwork for every one hour we spend with patients").</p>
<p>Compared to Generation X, the Millennial generation has a higher suicide rate for both men and women when evaluating age-by-age comparisons of previous generations. As a generation, the data show that US born Echo Boomers will not outlive their parents.</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Prediction: Millennial Women Will Make More Money</span></p>
<p>I predicted that <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/08/millennial-women-will-make-more-money.html" target="_blank">Millennial women would make more money than Millennial men</a> and this has held true as of my recent analysis in 2021. Some quick points on how I compared these differences: identical data points were compared (ie: comparing a female sales manager with 10 years of experience, a bachelor's degree and working in the same area as a male sales manager with 10 years of experience and a bachelor's degree), married Echo Boomers were deducted (see below point), and only data points that exist within a single context - for instance, if a Millennial male worked 3 jobs versus a Millennial female who worked 1, that's not the same context.</p>
<p>Summary of 2021 findings:</p><ul>
<li>When comparing non-Married Millennial males and females using <em>ceteris paribus</em> factors, Millennial females make approximately 8% more than Millennial males.</li>
<li>Millennial males are more likely to work multiple jobs, but also more likely to not work at all - the bell curve is very broad when looking at work for Millennial men compared with Millennial females.</li>
<li>Over 32% of Echo Boomers own a home, most of this group is married/coupled Echo Boomers. In 2011, only 11% of Echo Boomers owned a home.</li>
<li>The 15% subset of Millennial males have done what I predicted in private discussions with financial executives. Those of you who attended those presentations should continue the suggestions. I do not and will not share pubicly these predictions, as I am continuing to invest in this area.</li>
</ul>
<p>As a general point on why married Echo Boomers were excluded (and should be): in many married couples, one person will work more while the other may work either less or not at all "officially" - this latter point being important. Consider that a married partner who does not work still can add significant value by extending the value of the income of their partner. For an example, a stay-at-home wife may be able to leverage her husband's income by taking advantage of opportunities and sales that people who work regularly cannot take advantage of, such as buying toilet paper cheaply before the shortage in 2020. It is actually very common for single income households to have a partner who leverages their partner's income; this matters in situations where there is an income tax, as tax authorities cannot take advantage of someone who extends an income by purchasing more value than standard. For this reason, comparing income of married people is unreasonable because we'd also have to evaluate how the other partner is possibly extending that income. That's more difficult to do in research and it outside the scope of my prediction that Millennial women would make more than Millennial men (which they did) when we consider a <em>ceteris paribus</em> context.</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Prediction: Millennial Marriage Rate</span></p>
<p>I predicted that 33-40% of Echo Boomers would never marry. In 2011, only 22% of Echo Boomers had married. As of 2021, only 48% of Echo Boomers were married. Based on 2021's data, I expect that 67-70% of Echo Boomers will marry (higher than initially expected). A big part of this slight upshift is that more Echo Boomers have committed suicide than I expected (and at earlier ages) and their life expectancies are dropping faster than their parents, which will lower the never married population, as never marrieds tend to belong to both of these groups.</p>
<p>As I noted when speaking at events, a low marriage rate with Echo Boomers would mean a shortage of housing (as we've seen) since you have more single households that require housing plus a decline in productivity, as married men are the most economically productive demographic.</p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">Prediction: Products</span></p>
<p><strong>Electric cars</strong>. <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-killed-electric-car-no-one.html" target="_blank">As I predicted with Tesla</a>, electric cars have been extremely popular with Echo Boomers, especially since Millennial attitudes toward environmentally friendly companies is positive. I expect that this trend will continue and as electric cars become even more affordable, for their use to spread. Echo Boomers have never forgotten the pain they felt at $4 a gallon gas back in 2008 when oil was over $150 West Texas Intermediate. To this day, oil prices have never risen that high even though actual oil resources are declining. The only surprise here is that some of the competitors to Tesla have done poor in their electric car production.</p>
<p><strong>Energy drinks</strong>. As I predicted, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-male.html" target="_blank">supplements did well with single male Echo Boomers</a>, especially the more active Echo Boomers. One suggestion I made early given the success with Red Bull was that energy drinks should broaden their appeal to single male Echo Boomers and this has paid off for the ones who followed this. Energy drinks have become a huge market and they've been able to attract many male consumers outside of the fitness industry (Monster Beverage being a great example of one that does this with blue collar male Echo Boomers and Celsius Holdings being a great example of one that does this with white collar male Echo Boomers).</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-male.html" target="_blank">Survivalism takes off in 2024</a></strong>. The survivalist industry has done well since I published that post, though it was very niche. This year, the interest in the industry has absolutely exploded - some of the private startups in the industry are making $1+ million a weekend teaching survivalist skills to the exceptionally wealthy. This isn't only the skills either; the industry has seen an explosion in interest in the actual goods that makeup the industry. This is one of the hottest industries in 2024 that still is flying below the radar.</p>
<p><strong>App Dating</strong>. As I've long advised with companies, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-female.html" target="_blank">when appealing to Millennial females, details and the shopping experience matter.</a> The popular dating apps that exploded in popularity followed this advice. The experience felt like shopping for dates and the apps encouraged that users would add key details that single female Echo Boomers wanted to know. Also, I advised some of the companies to track how Millennial females used the apps, such as where they would look and how much time they would spend on certain areas of the app because these are key to improving the shopping experience. While the female Echo Boomers didn't pay as much as the male Echo Boomers, female Echo Boomers were key for dating apps as the male Echo Boomers wouldn't pay for the app if there were no females (gay dating apps being exceptions to this point). Another related appeal to dating apps and why they've been so popular with Echo Boomers is that <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-echo-boomers-want-money-sex-or-self.html" target"_blank">Echo Boomers prefer self-esteem boosts over money and sex</a> and dating apps provide Echo Boomers with a self-esteem boost, even if they don't act on it.</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">Acknowledgement</span></p>
<p>Some specific appreciate to all the people I've interviewed over the years when doing research along with links to the interviews:</p>
<ul>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/default-documentary-student-loan.html" target="_blank">Default Documentary: the Student Loan Interview</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-austrian-economics-with-dr.html" target="_blank">Austrian Economics With Dr. Paul Cwik</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-sander-daniels-of-thumbtack.html" target="_blank">Sander Daniels of Thumbtack</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-susan-walsh-of-hooking-up.html" target="_blank">Susan Walsh of Hooking Up Smart</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/02/interview-stephanie-coontz-on.html" target="_blank">Stephanie Coontz on Contemporary Families</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-kay-hymnowitz-of-manhattan.html" target="_blank">Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-matt-kramer-on-predatory.html" target="_blank">Matt Kramer On Predatory Leadership</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-i-cant-afford-my-private.html" target="_blank">“I Can’t Afford My Private Student Loans”</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/08/jed-kolko-millennials-and-real-estate.html" target="_blank">Jed Kolko: Millennials and the Real Estate Market</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/08/julie-zeilinger-challenges-facing.html" target="_blank">Julie Zeilinger: Challenges Facing Millennial Women</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/mark-plumber-on-success-work-and-early.html" target="_blank">Mark the Plumber: Success, Work and Early Retirement</a></li></p>
</ul>
<p>Also, thank you to those who I interviewed outside the topic of demographics - <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/interview-dan-eisenberg-on-telomere.html" target="_blank">Dr. Dan Eisenberg<a>, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/07/dr-cate-shanahan-food-genes-and-our.html" target="_blank">Dr. Catherine Shanahan<a>, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/04/interview-tom-naughton-of-fat-head.html" target="_blank">Tom Naughton<a>, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/04/interview-dr-layne-norton-on-health-and.html" target="_blank">Dr. Layne Norton<a>, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/04/interview-christine-cronau-on-saturated.html" target="_blank">Christine Cronau<a>, and <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/07/dr-lindsey-mathews-food-is-fuel-for-our.html" target="_blank">Dr. Lindsey Mathews<a>.</p>
<p>Thank you to all the people I've met over the years, as I've done research. The people I've met and interviewed, the people I've worked with on various studies, even the people in the studies themselves. To me there is nothing more exciting than hearing a person's story - it's more of an adventure than traveling to the coolest places. Thank you for sharing your life with me. I have been extremely careful to avoid ever storing identifiable information and looking only at patterns in a big picture sense because fundamentally I respect what you as an individual are willing to share publicly under your name. The biggest takeaway to any research is how people are the greatest work of art.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-19607880614409696362024-01-29T08:08:00.027-06:002024-03-03T05:56:16.215-06:00Updates<p>I am currently completing two projects related to Echo Boomers (Millennials), iGenZ and the AutoMon generations. I will be reposting and consolidating some of the old public content from this blog and adding private content that was never published to the public audience, as I make reference to these public and private materials from the past. Expect to see material from the period of 2009 to 2013. I will not be republishing the content unrelated to Echo Boomers (Millenials), iGenZ and the AutoMons. All re-posted public content and added private content will have some written updates over time (removal of irrelevant remarks, more details where needed, grammar fixes, etc). The order will be the following: republish and consolidate material along with publishing some private material, update links, and update or remove media. Some links will not work anymore for a period, as I will not republish irrelevant posts and also some links on other sites are now inactive. As I republish this material, I will add to the below linked list (earliest posts will appear first).</p>
<ul>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/03/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Who Are the Echo Boomers?</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/04/no-houses-please-were-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">"No Houses Please. We're Echo Boomers."</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/05/no-vehicles-please-were-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">"No Vehicles Please. We're Echo Boomers."</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-will-higher-education-bubble-pop.html" target="_blank">When Will the Higher Education Bubble Pop?</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/default-documentary-student-loan.html" target="_blank">Default Documentary: the Student Loan Interview</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-female.html" target="_blank">Products and Services for Single Female Echo Boomers</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-male.html" target="_blank">Products and Services for Single Male Echo Boomers</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-austrian-economics-with-dr.html" target="_blank">Austrian Economics With Dr. Paul Cwik</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-echo-boomers-want-money-sex-or-self.html" target="_blank">Do Echo Boomers Want Money, Sex or Self-Esteem Boosts?</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/tesla-motors-other-vehicle.html" target="_blank">Tesla Motors' Other Vehicle</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-killed-electric-car-no-one.html" target="_blank">Who Killed the Electric Car? No One.</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-sander-daniels-of-thumbtack.html" target="_blank">Sander Daniels of Thumbtack</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-susan-walsh-of-hooking-up.html" target="_blank">Susan Walsh of Hooking Up Smart</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/12/updated-what-industries-will-be-winners.html" target="_blank">What Industries Will Be Winners or Losers With Generation Y?</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/12/generation-y-fails-in-privacy-3-reasons.html" target="_blank">Generation Y Fails In Privacy; 3 Reasons Why</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/02/interview-stephanie-coontz-on.html" target="_blank">Stephanie Coontz on Contemporary Families</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-kay-hymnowitz-of-manhattan.html" target="_blank">Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/02/who-is-generation-z.html" target="_blank">Who Is Generation Z?</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-matt-kramer-on-predatory.html" target="_blank">Matt Kramer On Predatory Leadership</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/give-us-facebook-or-well-take-lower.html" target="_blank">"Give Us Facebook Or We'll Take A Lower Paying Job!"</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/interview-i-cant-afford-my-private.html" target="_blank">“I Can’t Afford My Private Student Loans”</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/interview-dan-eisenberg-on-telomere.html" target="_blank">Dan Eisenberg Discusses Telomere Length and Age</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/07/med-school-blows-past-education-bubble.html" target="_blank">Med School Blows Past the Education Bubble</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/08/jed-kolko-millennials-and-real-estate.html" target="_blank">Jed Kolko: Millennials and the Real Estate Market</a></li></p>
<p><li>(Interview) <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/08/julie-zeilinger-challenges-facing.html" target="_blank">Julie Zeilinger: Challenges Facing Millennial Women</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/08/millennial-women-will-make-more-money.html" target="_blank">Millennial Women Will Make More Money</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-real-estate-do-millennials-want.html" target="_blank">What Real Estate Do Millennials Want?</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/11/is-there-bitcoin-bubble.html" target="_blank">Is There A Bitcoin Bubble?</a></li></p>
<p><li><a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/11/millennials-dont-know-what-inflation-is.html" target="_blank">Millennials Don't Know What Inflation Is, So ...</a></li></p>
<!-- <p><li><a href="" target="_blank"></a></li></p> -->
</ul>
<p>Both media and links on republished posts may be dead and will not be updated for a period of time. As I finish republishing a subset of the past posts, I will either remove or update links and media. In addition, I have done a follow-up study on Echo Boomers and will eventually add some of the details of this follow-up study (conducted during 2021 to 2022).</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-45613156976383048942013-11-21T08:00:00.006-06:002024-01-29T08:22:58.756-06:00Millennials Don't Know What Inflation Is, So ...<p>A recent <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/11/21/millennials-who-want-to-retire-someday-must-oppose-janet-yellen/" target="_blank">article</a> suggests that <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Echo Boomers</a> should oppose Janet Yellen if they want to retire. As a quick note, remember that Echo Boomers supported Obama even though his Obamacare would cost Echo Boomers more money than if Obamacare didn't exist. Echo Boomers seldoom act in their best interest. Likewise, Yellen (and Bernanke) is a disaster for most Americans, especially young Americans, but they won't vote or take action in their own interest.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2hZAiGlhF4I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>From the article:<blockquote>However, by all accounts, the Federal Reserve under her leadership would continue cycles of quantitative easing. Millennials are wise to oppose this policy, because negative interest rates will make it utterly impossible for any of us to ever retire.
</blockquote></p>
<p>This sounds true and great (and it is), yet how many Echo Boomers understand negative interest rates or inflation? Even <b>if</b> they do, how many of them would actually take action? And finally, how many Echo Boomers vote their pocketbook, as - if this was true - they would have voted against Obama. Even from several financial studies I've conducted, only about 10-15% of Echo Boomers actually know what these things are and would take action on them. The remaining focus more on whether they like the person; and let's face it Yellen and Bernanke are likeable people.</p>
<p><a href="http://gawker.com/5636765/facebook-ceo-admits-to-calling-users-dumb-fucks" target="_blank">Acting against their interest </a> is a trait of the majority of Echo Boomers.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-89606254672525541492013-11-14T08:00:00.001-06:002024-01-29T08:36:33.078-06:00Is There A Bitcoin Bubble?<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Bitcoin is tulip mania 2.0 - not gold 2.0, says <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff">@PeterSchiff</a>: <a href="http://t.co/LbdSaQB5k4">http://t.co/LbdSaQB5k4</a></p>— Jesse Colombo (@TheBubbleBubble) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBubbleBubble/statuses/400636139817537536">November 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
<p>I write this post with the assumption that you know a thing or two about bitcoins. If you don't, <b>stop reading</b>.</p>
<p>A few months ago (see the below chart), people declared that the bitcoin bubble had popped because it had reached around $260 a bitcoin and then fell to less than $100 a bitcoin. Except, as of this writing, bitcoin's price exceeds that supposed bubble price. Writers would love to convince you that they know all about bitcoin and why it's bubble (or why it isn't a bubble), but the truth is that they have no idea. Neither do the media (who love to hire the most ignorant people they can find). And neither do I. Bitcoin offers an approach to money that, in its conceptual entirety, hasn't ever existed before now.</p>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S8zdlEb_Tgg/UorD7teh2hI/AAAAAAAABTY/dtZuyjs7_iE/s1600/bl.png"></center></p>
<p>But let's first consider the major arguments against bitcoin, fostered by these "bitcoin is a bubble type" who only promote this idea (why don't they at least lend a voice to the other side?).</p>
<h1>Why Bitcoin Is A Bubble</h1>
<p><b>Bitcoin fluctuates too much.</b> By far, this argument holds the most weight against bitcoin. Because its price fluctuates, it currently remains an unstable currency.</p>
<p><b>Few businesses accept bitcoin.</b> This may seem like a problem now and it may be a problem in the future if business don't accept it, but bitcoin makes exchanging currencies cheaper than traditional methods. It costs less to travel with it, which, with
<a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Echo Boomers'</a> love of travel creates a demand. That being written, it still needs more businesses to accept it.</p>
<p><b>Nothing backs up bitcoin - it is completely made up.</b> This statement is completely true. Simply put: only a maximum of 21 million bitcoins can <i>ever</i> exist (in 2150, currently only around 12 million exist); whereas, as the Federal Reserve has demonstrated, the US Dollar limit might be infinite. Remember basic economics: the more of something exists, the less valuable it becomes. Of course, people like Schiff will argue that gold is limited too, to which I can respond, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57526387-1/bling-researchers-create-24k-gold-in-the-lab/" target="_blank">are you sure about that?</a></p>
<p><b>The government may try to block bitcoin.</b> This is an excellent argument against bitcoin <b>if and only if</b> all other countries do this. If several countries decide to use bitcoins (like China and Japan), this arguments completely fails. In fact, and this is what is <b>REALLY</b> scary, if China decides to adopt bitcoin and refuses to accept US Dollars, expect the price to go through the roof.</p>
<p><b>Bitcoin could be a scam.</b> This point carries a lot of weight as well. Another derivative of this argument is that the government is secretly behind bitcoin. To be fair to bitcoin here, I've heard people call the stock market a scam, so this is something that people tend to state when they don't understand or don't trust something.</p>
<h1>Why Bitcoin Carries Value</h1>
<p><b>Are banks necessary?</b> With savings' accounts paying nothing in interest, bitcoin allows you to hold your money in an independent currency which can be turned into whatever local currency you need. Not only would this help with travel and keeping foreign exchange costs down, we would literally need no "local" currency whatsoever except for buying good in that amount. At the end of the day, it's much cheaper (no debit/credit card fees at merchants) than using the costly banking system. Oh, and yeah, the banking system costs consumers huge sums of money - bitcoin eliminates the middle man. Even Bernanke admitted this:<blockquote> Vice Chairman Alan Blinder’s testimony at that time made the key point that while these types of innovations may pose risks related to law enforcement and supervisory matters, there are also areas in which they may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.</blockquote></p>
<p><b>Bitcoin doesn't need the United States.</b> Bitcoin's growing popularity is happening in China and other Asian countries, not the United States. Simply put the Chinese see the value, not only in terms of efficiency, but also in terms of the lack of "control" (many Americans think bitcoin is too complex to understand because it involves mathematics).</p>
<p><b>Popular among young men.</b> Men tend to lead innovation. Pretty much every early successful industry was dominated by men initially. The same applies to many trends. For instance, Echo Boomers love their tattoos, but if you go back about 30 years it was only men who had tattoos. We may see the same with bitcoin.</p>
<p><b>Wait until the Muslims hear about it.</b> Some Americans don't know this, but <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/06/10/324525/" target="_blank">Muslims are against earning interest (and paying it)</a>; in fact, it's one of the most wicked sins (part of the reason that Americans are left in the dark about this is because banking is behind Western culture and Islam doesn't fit in with banking - one of the reasons we are constantly encouraged to fight them as their existence threatens banks). Obviously, Islam isn't compatible with fractional reserve banking, and perhaps the world would be a better place if all of us weren't. But what's the alternative? Previously, nothing, outside of barter, which is painful.</p>
<p>Now, we have bitcoins and bitcoins don't use a fractional reserve banking concept, thus they may be in demand from over 1 billion Muslims (remember, bitcoin can only have a maximum number of 21 million). Luckily, most Muslims are unaware this currency exists, but when this changes, we could see bitcoin skyrocket.</p>
<p>As a note on these points, Americans like to think they own the world and know more than everyone. This and the previous point indicate that the power of the world is shifting and whether Americans "believe" in something or not won't mean that it will or won't succeed in the long run. In other words, it's irrelevant what some American thinks about a currency when it's in high demand in China, Hong Kong and Singapore and will later be popular in Middle Eastern countries.</p>
<p><b>Buying a bitcoin is like flipping the bird at the Federal Reserve.</b> Admit it: this feels awesome.</p>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirMpTRQW29XIVhiq7RmM5BrLN_GhoZWYOzpXwxE1gokyiz60M7E_rqk8gXVAHrtbBan23RFnEJgNiwa3hVSe17JWV25Ou0hK1lh3wtHvMYHfDcd0kPsqssdlTEKCm5H9hWHIlBsWp0EjM/s320/fuck_off.gif"></center></p>
<p><b>Bitcoin is more evolved than gold.</b> In a world where fiat currencies collapse (and in the long run, they will), many trumpet gold as the ultimate solution. But do you really want to barter with gold? Paper currencies make the bartering easier because you don't have to carry gold around with you, so in a sense, paper currencies - backed by gold - make sense. Even though nothing "backs up" bitcoin, it won't ever exceed 21 million. This means that it's final amount - 21 million relative to gold will be a price exchange similar to what a paper currency backed by gold would be (somehow the goofballs like Schiff never get this).</p>
<p><b>Bitcoin is global.</b> And that's scary because basically, if it takes off, it <i>will be</i> a reserve currency in the world. For all the talk about "no country wants to have the reserve currency," well, they may all get their wish with a computer program displacing them.</p>
<h1>Final Thoughts</h1>
<p>I look at this list and am convinced I just don't know. Bitcoin may be the greatest invention that many of us are skeptical about ("Kids, if God wanted men to fly, he would have given them wings"), or it could be the next great bubble that pops. Either way, don't believe people who try to convince you that they know <b>WITHOUT A DOUBT</b> what bitcoin will be, because at best, we're all estimating and guessing. And based on the price of bitcoin today alone, I'd say this is normal human behavior.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-68800016722995268072013-09-01T11:57:00.003-05:002024-02-04T06:25:33.422-06:00What Real Estate Do Millennials Want?<p><center><iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xp3GbWtFr8o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>If Texas, a state notorious for building expansive cities which require vehicles, begins to build real estate with businesses next to living spaces, then every real estate developer should follow. As you can read in the previous post, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/08/generation-y-dumps-vehicles-and-driving.html" target="_blank">Generation Y Dumps Vehicles and Driving</a>, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Echo Boomers</a> don't like driving and won't drive as much as former American generations. They carry an expectation that their jobs and favorite shops should be near them. I predict that Echo Boomers will prefer this type of living arrangement. From a bird's eye view, how should you approach real estate development? See the below, very simplified image:</p>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GXPv5BKOF94/UiNu1aXqNzI/AAAAAAAABQw/W2tczZZk1SQ/s1600/noop.png"></center></p>
<p>In the center black area, social businesses - such as restaurants, coffee shops, and other stores - and living spaces - such as apartment and condos - should be either stacked (living on top, business on bottom), or living spaces nearby businesses. In the outer, blue area of the development, professional businesses (like Google, Southern Company, Macy's Headquarters, etc) exist in close vicinity to where Echo Boomers live. This allows Echo Boomers to travel a minimum distance in order to arrive at a professional office. Remember that Echo Boomers experienced more financial pain from $4+ gallon gas than other generations, who had the incomes to offset this cost. These high gas prices are still fresh in their minds. In Lubbock, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdHKWHZxje4" target="_blank">where I recorded my original video</a>, the real estate developers built the businesses, apartments and shops within one square mile (and across from Texas Tech University). The more compact the development, the better for Echo Boomers.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that since <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-males-dump-marriage.html" target="_blank">Generation Y will have a lower marriage rate</a>, suburban areas will be in less demand than these areas. The "suburbs" appeal to families, whereas these areas appeal to single parents and singles. With a generation of approximately 33-40% singles (in the long run) out of 80 million, that's a demand of at least 26 million from this generation alone.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-18093067422216638342013-08-28T18:25:00.003-05:002024-02-03T06:17:52.752-06:00Millennial Women Will Make More Money<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://www.skinvitality.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/earn-more.png"></center></p>
<p>Readers may recall my assertion numerous times that Millennial females are faring better than men in terms of average income, for instance, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2013/02/making-billions-from-female-millennials.html" target="_blank">Making Billions From Female Millennials</a>:<blockquote>Do we want to try and force something on our customers that they don't want? For female <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Echo Boomers</a>, bet on fashion being in large demand (along with shopping-like experiences). Remember, female Echo Boomers have more money (on average) than their male counterparts.</blockquote><p>However, readers may also see out-dated assertions that women still don't earn as much as men, and in a few rare cases, assertions that - quite frankly - haven't been updated since the 70s (such as the <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jun/21/barack-obama/barack-obama-ad-says-women-are-paid-77-cents-dolla/" target="_blank">77 cent myth</a>).</p>
<p>Lo and behold, my research is far more accurate than these "gender wage gap" promoters, as a recent <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/influencers/20130827020959-132220-get-real-the-big-flip-is-coming" target="_blank">article</a> on LinkedIn discussed a new trend of women becoming the major breadwinners:</p><blockquote>The first thing you should know about the big flip — it’s big. 40% of American working wives now already out-earn their husbands (Pew Research 2012). In 40% of American families (with kids under 18), mom is the breadwinner (Pew Research 2013). In fact, the Boston Consulting Group has gone so far as to predict that in 15 years, women will not just close the income gap with men — but out-earn them.</blockquote><p>Exactly as I've predicted: Millennial women make more money than Millennial men and we can expect that to remain. I don't agree with ol' Iz in the sense that Millennial women will have to "change" their expectations on what they want in men, as I expect a 33-40% of Millennials won't marry. But, the women of this generation are more educated and can expect to earn more, provided they don't choose to drop out of the workforce, like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/magazine/the-opt-out-generation-wants-back-in.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">this past generation of women did</a> (who then complained about their poor decision!). Also, this demonstrates why for both Millennial men and women, in a battle of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/01/cohabitation-versus-marriage.html" target="_blank">cohabitation versus marriage</a>, cohabitation wins.</p></p>
<p>So, even as Millennial women surpass Millennial men in income, and this trend continues, provided that they remain in the workforce, we still will see such wage gap myths throughout media (they hardly concerns themselves with research, truth or real data). Recognize, <b>especially as a business</b>, that this is a demographic with strong incomes and one you do not want to miss out because of false information prevalent in media. Only a foolish company would believe the women of this generation have low incomes, and that company will miss out on a major opportunity.</p>
<h3>Relevant Research Point</h3>
<p>Three really important points that cannot be missed here - and points you will almost never see in the media:</p>
<p>1. A never married woman who never has children has always made more money than a never married man who never has children. She also has a different set of values. As a business owner who may be targetting this demographic, don't miss this.</p>
<p>2. The biggest factor in male income is marriage. Even education plays far less than you would expect. An ever married man (married, divorced, widowed) makes significantly more money than everyone else. This holds even truer if he has children. I'm not going to engage in a social debate as to why, but marriage and family significantly affect male behavior, especially economic productive output.</p>
<p>3. Related to the second point, the married men of the ever married men category seldom make the daily financial decisions of the family. This has been noted by other sociologists and psychologists. Usually the wife makes the day-to-day purchase decisions. Likewise most of these men don't consider it "their" money even if they were the sole earner. I've seen this countless times in my research. The point here is that even with this group, you're not marketing to men solely but the family unit.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-46626385116199124962012-08-23T08:00:00.001-05:002024-03-17T05:58:54.432-05:00Julie Zeilinger: Challenges Facing Millennial Women<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
<!-- END: interview lead -->
<p><span class="toneheader">Feminism, Millennial Women and the Other Side</span>
<p>A few months ago, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/suzanne-venker-effects-of-feminism-on.html" target="_blank">I interviewed Suzanne Venker</a> on feminism's effects on Millennial women. Suzanne presented a challenge to some feminist notions, and I wanted to interview someone with a different perspective. After reading a Forbes <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/deniserestauri/2012/07/16/why-millennial-women-do-not-want-to-lead/" target="_blank">article</a> by Julie Zeilinger, I contacted her to discuss challenges that Millennial women face and how feminism can address these modern concerns.
<p><span class="toneheader">Who Is Julie Zeilinger?</span>
<p><blockquote><b>Brief Bio (taken from <a href="http://juliezeilinger.com/jz/Julie_Zeilinger___About.html" target="_blank">About Julie</a>):</b>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BwQK692IL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></center>
<p>Julie founded the blog <a href="http://thefbomb.org/" target="_blank">fbomb</a>, a site for young feminists, and wrote the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-Fd-Up-Feminism-Dirty/dp/1580053718" target="_blank">A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism is Not a Dirty Word</a>, which was released this year in May. She is currently an undergraduate student at Barnard College and has been named as one of the most influential bloggers under the age of 21 by Women's Day magazine.
<p>You can find her on <a href="https://twitter.com/juliezeilinger" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</blockquote>
<p><span class="toneheader">So, Just Had To Ask ... (Interview)</span>
<p><b>1. In your article on Forbes, you state that Millennial women face a different form of discrimination than women in the past. What are these new forms of discrimination that Millennial women primarily face?</b></p>
<p>I believe that generally the type of discrimination Millennial women face tends to be more subtle than in years past. While our foremothers were raised in a culture that generally accepted women’s inferiority to men as fact, the feminist movement has made incredible progress. Today women do have access to education and are largely able to enter the same careers as men (although men still dominate many fields and do still earn more than us on average). I believe that while the feminist movement largely accomplished legal equality, we have yet to achieve cultural equality. Women are still seen as imperfect and are largely objectified in a way that men simply are not. One really pervasive example is street/sexual harassment – so many young women face street harassment on a regular basis. And yet as we are blatantly objectified and disrespected by men, we are told that we have achieved gender equality.
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://content.screencast.com/users/heyyoutherehey/folders/Snagit/media/a8e91813-a0bf-48e9-8940-ab24723dd444/08.14.2012-14.48.09.png"></center>
<p>Of course, there’s a huge caveat to this in terms of the fact that there are of course still women who face serious and even life-threatening forms of discrimination in the U.S. as well as abroad. Women’s experiences with discrimination are largely impacted by socioeconomic factors like race, class, sexual orientation (etc) and it’s really impossible to generalize the experience of all women in this day and age because it truly does vary vastly. My thoughts above and those that I wrote about in Forbes are based on my experience and observations as an admittedly privileged young woman.
<p><b>2. How do you think that these issues can be addressed? And who/what should address these?</b></p>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/110506-slutwalk-hmed-330a.grid-8x2.jpg" width="450" height="300"><br />
<i>SlutWalk protesters in Canada.</i></center>
<p>I believe that the feminist movement is still working hard in this day and age to address these issues. I think that we’ve made great strides through online-based campaigns – petitions on Change.org and other similar sites, Twitter campaigns targeting sexist figures, etc as well as on-the-streets style activism (like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk" target="_blank">SlutWalk</a>). But I really believe that these issues need to be addressed via education. Young women (and young men, for that matter) are barely taught about the feminist movement or about the social issues the feminist movement addresses in school. I think schools across the country need to incorporate these issues into their curriculum. I think it’s just as important for students to be educated about pervasive issues that exist today as it is to be educated about U.S. history and algebra.</p>
<p><b>3. One criticism that could be made against your argument is that Millennial women are performing better than Millennial men - in terms of career and education, and thus will do better in leadership over the course of their lives. How would you respond to critics that state this?</b></p>
<p>I think we need to separate statistics like those that show women are the majority of undergrads in this country from the concept of women and leadership – they are not one in the same. I can’t speak from my own experience because, after all, I am still an undergrad but from what I understand once women do enter the workforce they face roadblocks based on their gender that simply don’t exist in the same way for men. For example, women aren’t able to progress in their careers once they start families in the same way men are (hence the recent “having it all” debate). The U.S. is seriously lagging behind in policies that would help women ascend to leadership and have a family – for example, the U.S. is one of three countries that doesn’t have legally enforced paid maternity leave (the other two countries are Papau New Guinea and Swaziland, for the record) and most companies don’t offer family friendly policies like flex hours. Despite our increased presence in the work place, women still are burdened with <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm" target="_blank">most unpaid domestic duties</a>. So, while women may be able to enter the workplace we deal with a number of other duties and responsibilities that hold us back from ascending to leadership positions. Basically we have to separate our legal abilities and even our presence in certain careers and educational institutions from leadership. Also, I think that, again, the argument that millennial women are performing “better” than millennial men varies depending on certain socio-economic factors.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-72807971954756274282012-08-17T08:31:00.001-05:002024-03-17T06:03:29.174-05:00Jed Kolko: Millennials and the Real Estate Market<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
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<p><span class="toneheader">About that Housing Market ...</span>
<p>This blog has featured several articles about Millennials and housing (as well as the below video). With <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html" target="_blank">Echo Boomers</a> being one of the largest generations in American history, when they are ready to buy homes, they should create a major demand.
<p><center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rdHKWHZxje4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
<p>When it comes to Millennials and housing, especially for the future with regards to the political climate, what can we expect? Jed Kolko, a Chief Economist at Trulia, offered excellent observations to these questions.
<p><span class="toneheader">Who Is Jed Kolko?</span>
<p><blockquote><b>Brief Bio (found at <a href="http://www.trulia.com/about/people/jed-kolko" target="_blank">About Jed Kolko</a>):</b>
<p>Jed Kolko, Chief Economist and Head of Analytics, oversees Trulia's research programs. Applying a background in economic development and research methods, he transforms real estate data, economic trends, and public policy debate into digestible insights for home buyers, sellers and renters. In Jed's prior role as Associate Director and Research Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, he led research projects and advised policymakers and business leaders on economic, housing and technology policies. Before his work at PPIC, Jed directed Forrester Research's consumer-technology market research, advising corporate executives on technology adoption and demand. Jed has also held positions at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (now FHFA), the World Bank and the Progressive Policy Institute.
<p>Jed earned his A.B. in social studies and his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University.
<p>You can find him on <a href="https://twitter.com/JedKolko" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</blockquote>
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ziSI46xsH-0/TgP20Y8ufMI/AAAAAAAAAHw/7AUk4mG40CU/s1600/6millennialhousing.jpg" height="241" width="400"></center>
<p><center><i><a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/how-do-echo-boomers-manage-money.html" target="_blank">Millennial financial data</a> obtained from 2010 to 2011 for this blog.</i></center>
<p><span class="toneheader">So, Just Had To Ask ... (Interview)</span>
<p><b>1. The Millennial generation (approximately born from 1980 to 1995) will be America's next great generation as far as housing is concerned, whether they rent or own. Based on your research, what have you observed about Millennial homeowners at this point in time, or is there any indication that they're interested in home-ownership?</b></p>
<p>The Millennial generation suffered a worse recession than older adults. The unemployment rate of 25-to-34-year-olds rose higher than the unemployment rate overall and only recently fallen back in line. Many Millennials doubled up or stayed at home with parents rather than entering the housing market on their own as renters or buyers. But they won’t live with their parents forever. As the economy recovers, they’ll enter the housing market: nearly two-third still say that homeownership is part of their <a href="http://trends.truliablog.com/2011/09/trulia-american-dream-survey-fall2011/" target="_blank">American Dream</a>. Buying, though, will be a challenge for many of them: for Millennials, the <a href="http://trends.truliablog.com/2011/09/trulia-american-dream-survey-fall2011/" target="_blank">downpayment</a> remains the biggest obstacle to homeownership, and with rents rising rapidly and student debt hanging over their heads, saving for a downpayment is a challenge.</p>
<blockquote><b>Editor’s Note:</b>
<p>While not Millennials, the <i>New York Times</i> recently featured an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/nyregion/four-men-sharing-rent-and-friendship-for-18-years.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">article</a> about 4 men with a unique living situation. Some Millennials are doing something similar, like Jessica in <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/4-heteroclite-ways-to-save-money.html" target="_blank">4 strange ways to save money</a>. Similar to Jed's point, these may be temporary strategies to handle the current economic climate. This doesn't mean they won't ever demand homes of their own.</blockquote>
<p><b>2. According to Case-Shiller (as of April this year), housing prices are on the rise again. Can we expect them to continue to rise, level out, or fall - and what's been helping this increase in prices?</b></p>
<p>The <a href="http://trends.truliablog.com/2012/08/trulia-price-and-rent-monitors-july2012/" target="_blank">Trulia Price Monitor</a> – which tracks asking prices – shows that prices have been rising for six months and have been rising in most major housing markets. Job growth, along with declining vacancies and inventories, are pushing prices higher. Job growth means more people are interested and able to buy, and the decline in vacancies and inventories means that buyers are chasing fewer available homes and therefore bidding prices up. A big reason for lower inventories is fewer foreclosed homes on the market. Since foreclosed homes are often at the lower end of the market, first-time buyers will find fewer bargains listed for sale then they would have a year ago. We’ve seen asking prices continue to rise in July, which means sales prices should keep rising at least through the fall.</p>
<p><b>3. This is for the Millennials out there who question the value of home-ownership - are there any economic arguments in favor of renting as opposed to owning (I know, an unpopular question here in the United States)?</b></p>
<p>There are good arguments in favor of renting, depending on your situation. Buying a home involves upfront costs, as well as time and effort – which may not be worth it unless you plan to stay in your home at least 5-7 years. Also, renting may make more sense if you are new to a city and aren’t sure which neighborhood is a good fit for you. Finally, in some markets buying is not really cheaper than renting – such as Honolulu and San Francisco, as well as Manhattan – especially if your tax bracket is low and you therefore benefit less from the mortgage interest deduction. Still, with the huge price declines in the past five years, and rising rents, <a href="http://trends.truliablog.com/2012/03/rent-vs-buy-winter-2012/" target="_blank">buying is quite affordable relative to renting</a> in most markets, especially in the Midwest and the South.</p>
<p><b>4. A side question here - but one that will gain increasing amount of attention in the future: is the mortgage tax deduction a good idea from an economic standpoint? Why or why not?</b></p>
<p>The mortgage interest deduction is politically popular, but one of the few areas of possible bipartisan agreement on tax reform might be to reduce tax deductions – of which the mortgage interest deduction is a major one. On one hand, the housing market is still fragile, and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-08/brace-yourself-real-estate-prices-are-going-back-up.html" target="_blank">rising prices</a> have real benefits for the economy, so reducing the incentive to buy a home right now could hurt the economic and housing recovery. On the other hand, because of the way the mortgage interest deduction works, it gives a much bigger tax break to richer taxpayers, particularly in geographic areas with higher home prices. Only 30% of taxpayers even itemize their deductions in the first place, so the benefits of the mortgage interest deduction goes to some homeowners and not others. The mortgage interest deduction is – and will remain -- in the crosshairs of two big policy debates: how much should government spend to encourage homeownership, and what’s the fairest and most efficient way to spread those benefits?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-26000470963645258842012-07-30T08:00:00.004-05:002024-02-10T05:09:00.209-06:00Med School Blows Past the Education Bubble<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://feministing.com/files/2011/09/meded.jpg"></center></p>
<p>I expect the partisans to argue about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/health/policy/too-few-doctors-in-many-us-communities.html" target="_blank">this article</a> as far as the health care law is concerned:</p><blockquote>Health experts, including many who support the law, say there is little that the government or the medical profession will be able to do to close the gap by 2014, when the law begins extending coverage to about 30 million Americans. It typically takes a decade to train a doctor.</blockquote>
<p>However, pertinent to the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2011/11/02/when-will-the-education-bubble-explode/" target="_blank">education bubble</a>, we need doctors - and medical school is <b>not in a bubble</b> compared to other degrees. Of course, in <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-economics-says-education-is-waste.html" target="_blank">how economics says education is a waste</a>, we find that <i>supply and demand ultimately matter</i>, something many are missing when they try to argue in favor of education. While our marketplace holds too many degrees, unfortunately, we are seeing a major gap in some professions - the main one being medical school. In fact, law school is in a huge bubble, while these same students won't consider pursuing a medical degree (an M.D. is much harder to obtain). One related point I speak about that goes missing in this analysis is that while lawyers want all systems to become more bureaucratic, doctors want the system to produce superior results. The United States almost graduates more lawyers than doctors - what do you think the long term effect of this will be?</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">The Supply and Demand Problem</span></p>
<p>Unlike other degrees, we have a major supply problem with medical school. We have a massive generation aging (the Baby Boomers) and we've expanded medical coverage under the health care law (increasing competition for goods and services). We don't have the <i>equivalent increase in students attending medical school</i> and we continue to see a rise in lawyers - these lawyers will only complicate the future healthcare system. In other words, health care costs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future due to a lack of doctors (this factor alone will cause problems). As this causes pain in the medical field, it could create more shortages because a shortage of labor can lead to overwork of that labor (ie: with a doctor shortage, existing doctors have to "offset" the labor shortage, thus some may choose to retire early). This could also cause pain in related medical professions, such as nursing.</p>
<p>Another factor, contributing to this problem, is the hostility toward young men on college campuses. In a private discussion I had with executives titled "Too Many Young Men In STEM Fields", I highlighted government policies trying to attract more young women, while punishing young men with interest in science (normally, a precursor to medical school). To put it bluntly: <b>we need doctors <u>regardless</u> of their gender</b> (note the the policy to decrease help to young men in STEM fields while trying to promote young women is a move to strengthen Obama's popularity among young single women - most of whom support his candidacy). While I understand the political move by Democrats, as young women are predominantly their voters, the problem is that we have a labor shortage in medicine. When you're faced with a labor shortage, you don't exacerbate the problem with policies that increase the shortage. Don't miss that male doctors are much more likely to work longer hours than female doctors. This means that you would need as much as twice as many female doctors as male doctors.</p>
<blockquote><b>Note</b>: The unintended consequences of serving only your group of people is that you end up undermining your group of people. We live in a society with a specialized division of labor. In this society, we rely on others and their skills (specialty). If we have a shortage of any specialty, we all pay a higher cost. Any political policy that favors one group over another in a way that would discourage one group from obtaining a specialty (especially when that specialty is in a shortage), will result is huge consequences for everyone including the favored group.</blockquote>
<p><span class="toneheader">Ideology Over Pragmatism</span></p>
<p>A college professor once told me that all problems fundamentally begin when people place an ideology over pragmatism and we see that here. We have a shortage of doctors, an aging population, and plans to expand healthcare (all on top of a growing national debt that will eventually bankrupt the country). Yet we don't have the fundamentals in place for these things to exist in reality. In addition, we're adding legal complexity to the healthcare system (thank you lawyers!) and we're discouraging young men from going to college, ironically lowering the supply of future doctors that we'll need. In a way, the future looks bright for those in medical school, but sadly looks dim for the rest of the country.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-43011655530460961482012-06-15T08:00:00.001-05:002024-03-17T06:03:48.572-05:00Dan Eisenberg Discusses Telomere Length and Age<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
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<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://blog.designsforhealth.com/Portals/141581/images/Chromosomes-And-Telomeres.jpg"></center>
<p>Does a birth from a late father potentially affect the longevity of the offspring? Does it have any impact on telomere length? Dan Eisenberg has studied this and discussed this in a recent finding. I recently interviewed him on his study so that he could explain it. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/06/05/1202092109" target="_blank">You can find the study here</a>. <a href="http://www.dtae.net/" target="_blank">Dan Eisenberg</a> is a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University and has been published with many other authors in peer-reviewed journals (which you can read at the link above this). Along with being a Ph.D. candidate, he's received numerous awards and honors, as well as helped with several humanitarian efforts.
<p><b>1. What were the findings on your recent study related to older fathers and their children in terms of telomere length?</b>
<p>Telomeres are pieces of DNA found at the ends of our chromosomes that cap and protect the chromosome (like the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces). Each time one of our cells replicates telomeres tend to get a little shorter. So as we get older telomeres get shorter (in tissues in our body which replicate). When telomeres get too short, the cell can no longer replicate and sometimes dies off. Thus, shorter telomeres seem to contribute to deteriorating health with age.
<p>However, previous studies have shown that children of older fathers have longer telomeres (probably because as a man ages, telomeres in his sperm get longer). Our study shows for the first time that this happens across at least two generations: older fathers not only have offspring with longer telomeres, but their sons also have offspring with longer telomeres. That is, having an older grandfather on your dad’s side at the birth of your father predicts that you will have longer telomeres.
<p>This implies that having a father and/or grandfather who reproduced at later ages might cause you to live longer because you were born with longer telomeres. This might be an evolutionary mechanism which allows the offspring to receive a signal of what the environment was like in recent generations. If your father and grandfather were able to live to reproduce at a later age it might be more beneficial for you to invest in having a healthier longer life.
<p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/06/05/1202092109" target="_blank">You can read the original study here</a>.
<p><b>2. How do telomeres relate to health and longevity?</b>
<p>Telomere length is shortened by cell division and replication and shortened telomeres limit the ability of cells to replicate. As such, in general telomeres probably influence cells and parts of our bodies in which cells divide and replicate more. Such cells include our immune system, skin and gut lining. Consistent with this, shorter telomere lengths are associated with increased mortality from infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.
<p>However, I also want to note that, as in most science, we need to be careful not to assume correlation is causation. Shorter telomeres in blood are also associated with (and probably caused by) increased stress, infection, poor diet and lack of exercise. Because of this, it can be difficult to definitively discern whether and how much associations between shorter telomeres and poorer later health imply that telomeres are causing this or whether telomeres are more of a marker of past damages. Still there are some good reasons to think that shorter telomeres do actually cause poorer health.
<p><b>3. I know many people are already asking this question at this point, so I'll go ahead and ask it: outside of aging (for men here), any other ways for people to lengthen their telomeres?</b>
<p>The best bet remains the usual suspects: don't eat too much, eat healthy food and exercise. Meat consumption, particularly processed meat has been associated with shorter telomeres (<a href="http://www.ajcn.org/content/88/5/1405.abstract" target="_blank">see here</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21963168; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002914910009549" target="_blank">here also</a>). I'd recommend avoiding any supplement/medication which claims to extend your telomeres.
<p><center><img style="border-style:none;" src="http://spencerinstitute.com/images/fitness-and-food.jpg"></center>
<p>If you are asking about how men might extend the telomere lengths of their sperm, this is an intriguing question. The only thing I know of that influences sperm telomere length is age. However, my evolutionary theory about father's and grandfather's age influencing telomere length of children as a sort of adaptive signaling mechanism, raises the question of whether other things in men's environments also influence the telomere length of his sperm.
<p><b>4. Up to this point in your research, what's been your most suprising finding?</b>
<p>To some extent, I was not very surprised by the results. I predicted that the paternal age effect on telomere length would persist across multiple generations in a publication last year in the American Journal of Human Biology (<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.21127/full" target="_blank">see here</a>). I predicted this because factors like being a first born child or a last born child of a man in the same environment would result in different telomere lengths. But if the effect of paternal age averages across generations than a baby receives not just the signal of what the environment was like for dad, but dad's dad and dad's dad's dad. This could mean that the telomere length a baby inherits conveys a more accurate message about what the recent past environment was like--and what it is likely to be like for that baby growing up.
<p>On the other hand, we only show this association from paternal grandfather's (father's father's age) not maternal grandfathers (mother's father's age at mother's birth). This is peculiar, was unexpected and calls for more research about why there is such a difference in how telomeres are passed on from mothers than from fathers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-83641530900423172362012-03-29T06:54:00.002-05:002024-01-29T08:28:10.904-06:00Interview: “I Can’t Afford My Private Student Loans”<p><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2012/03/29/student-loan-defaulter-calls-for-solidarity/" target="_blank">My interview with Natalia Antonova</a></b>
<p>Also, see yesterday's post on how <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-modern-education-has-deceived.html" target="_blank">modern "education" has deceived</a> some people.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-26177644064072783902012-03-10T08:00:00.002-06:002024-02-03T05:56:39.473-06:00"Give Us Facebook Or We'll Take A Lower Paying Job!"<p><center><table frame="box"><tr><th bgcolor="#485086"><font size="3" color="#D1D6FA">Quick Summary:</font></th></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#D1D6FA"><font color="#485086"><ul><li>Some Echo Boomers would take a lower paying job, provided they could surf Facebook at work.
<li>Reminder: Echo Boomers love self-esteem boosts more than sex and money.</ul></font></td></tr>
</table></center>
<p>For the humorous article of the week but one in which executives should be aware of - <a href="http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-millennials-2012-03">some Echo Boomers would take a lower paying job if it meant that they could access Facebook at work:</a></p><blockquote>According to Cisco’s second annual Connected World Technology Report, which surveyed 1,400 college students age 18 to 23, and 1,400 young professionals under 30, across 14 countries, the ability to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace can influence job choice, sometimes even more than salary.
<p>In fact, 40 percent of college students and 45 percent of young professionals said they would accept lower-paying jobs in exchange for those freedoms. You read that right.</blockquote><p>In other words, some Echo Boomers see work as another place to "digitally hang out" with their friends. We see this pattern with some Echo Boomers; they don't see doing work as something that fulfills you. Some Echo Boomers don't respect their time, money or the value of their work. To them, work is time to have fun not serve the customer or client.</p>
<p>In other words, companies like Microsoft, Cisco or Apple may consider cutting their Millennial employees' salary while giving them Facebook freedom, and about half of the their Millennial workforce would remain. Likewise, Echo Boomers may not see companies provide them with raises to stay because the generation doesn't take work seriously - as a means of providing value. We may see employers in the future reluctantly give Echo Boomer raises, if at all.</p>
<p>As an interesting side note, I could not tell if the author of the article was kidding or not in some places. For instance:<blockquote>Remember, as kids they earned trophy after trophy for just for participating. So it’s no surprise to learn that they are hungry for positive feedback.
<p>But like anything else in their lives, if it isn’t posted on their wall, it’s almost like it didn’t happen at all. In other words, accolades that can be viewed by their colleagues will pack twice the punch. Facebook makes it painless to commend and reward your employees publicly.</blockquote><p>The message that employers may get here is don't give the Echo Boomers a raise - post a "good job" on their Facebook Wall, and they'll be happy for a day (or week, or month, or year). Technically, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-echo-boomers-want-money-sex-or-self.html">Echo Boomers enjoy self-esteem boosts</a> (more than sex and money), and for some, a self-esteem boost may be a post on their Facebook Wall. Getting a "good job" publicly on their Facebook Wall and looking good in front of their friends beats a raise. Of course, there will be Echo Boomers who do not value this flattery and they'll see it as such. If you have an employee who does not have Facebook at all, you may want to stick with giving him the actual raise.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-55227712653313710122012-03-01T07:00:00.002-06:002024-03-17T06:04:06.257-05:00Interview: Matt Kramer On Predatory Leadership<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
<!-- END: interview lead -->
<p>A brief biography about Matt Kramer:</p><blockquote>Matt Kramer is parent-child mediation, mediator, photographer, entertainment entrepreneur, talent consultant and coordinator. He's based in Dallas and Austin Texas, doing business throughout Central and North Texas, and outside the area. He's also studying predatory leadership and how it affects our society. You can get more information about him on his website, <a href="http://mattkramer.com/">mattkramer.com</a>.</blockquote>
<p><b>1. What is predatory leadership?</b></p>
<p>Predatory Leadership is the display, by one's actions, policies or agendas, of their mental, emotional and subconscious investment into attaining their goals, openly or covertly, by any means, with complete disregard or concern for the consequences of their efforts upon others.</p>
<p><b>2. How has predatory leadership affected the business and political worlds?</b></p>
<p>Predatory leadership is evident throughout almost all aspects of society. In the domestic arena, the behavior is identified in verbal and physical abuse in families. In regional municipalities it shows up in government corruption as in the City of Bell, a small town east of Los Angeles in which the city manager was paying himself over $800,000 a year and helping his cronies milk the local economy with comparably illegitimate salaries at the expense of the inhabitants of the city (Gottlieb & Knoll, 2011). It shows up in a corporate culture that replicates the evils associated with destructive forms of competition focused on increasing shareholder profits while ignoring pollution controls, quality control, employee safety, etc. It showed up in Bernie Madoff. One example is the corporate - political scandals in which city officials take or demand bribes, currying favors for vendors and suppliers whose products are not in the best interests of their constituents. It shows up in religious organizations protecting pedophiles at the expense of their victims. It showed up in Radio-Te´le´vision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) when its disc jockeys spent months exploiting racial prejudice and exhorting its listeners to prepare to reclaim their country via the extermination of their Tutsi neighbors (Li, 2004). It shows up when any dictator censors free press, imposes martial law and assassinates his opponents in order to maintain illegitimate control of the nation. Predatory leadership wreaks havoc upon humanity in myriad ways too numerous to include in this document. The proliferation of the psychological culture of predatory leadership is thousands of years old. The impact and consequences of this syndrome shows up throughout all levels of culture in ways that are invisible as well as visible. Conventional wisdom says that man is violent by nature, that war is inevitable. That a few bad apples make the organization look worse than it is. But maybe that's just a symptom of the pervasive nature of the predatory leader. There are pockets of humanity, small communities where leaders are not corrupt. There are idealists working hard to change systems that perpetuate destructive, harmful practices at all levels of government and throughout society. Countering their passionate efforts are powerful forces employing maximum effort to sustain the status quo in spite of the harm suffered by many people in the process.</p>
<p><b>3. What are the solutions to predatory leadership?</b></p>
<p>While I do not have all the answers, I believe the initial stage of any solution begins with verifiable information. Most people do not recognize the early warning signs of socipathic behavior. Our awareness of the nature of this pathology is akin to the status of medicine in the 16th century – physicians then did not know about bacteria and viruses; most of their theories about illness were wrong. Due to their ignorance, they didn't know they were spreading diseases among their patients. Teach everyone, especially children, to recognize the early symptoms of narcissism and sociopathy at a young age; they will have the opportunity to make better choices in whom they choose to follow, promote, elect or marry.</p>
<p>A second stage would be to develop opportunities for people to gather and brainstorm more solutions. By educating and involving the general population in generating solutions, ideas will surface that are workable within the resources of those involved.</p>
<p><b>4. Suppose someone tells you: "People who succeed in business/politics are in leadership positions because they worked harder than everyone else, not because they are sociopaths." How would you address this assertion?</b></p>
<p>Certainly there are successful business people and politicians who earned their success legitimately. While it may be difficult for the uninformed to identify "healthy" from "toxic" personalities, one concern is that in order to succeed, some of them had to replicate sociopathic behavior (the ends justify the means) in order to gain their success. For example, a top executive at Nestle's may have empathy and be concerned about the way Nestle's marketing techniques raise mortality rates for third world infants but in order to hold on to his position, he withholds his point of view and goes along with the company's policies (Breastfeeding.com, 2012).</p>
<p><b>5. Last question, and this one is quite the challenge. I would argue that some people in our world like to be prey; meaning they would like a predator for a leader. While normal individuals, like you and I, find this appalling, after working in social psychology, I studied people who desired to be abused (as disturbing as this phenomena is). How do we address people who want to be abused?</b></p>
<p>There are a number of reasons this may happen, and you are more correct than you may realize. On the domestic level, some who have low self esteem deny themselves the opportunity for healthy relationships; subconsciously they will "punish" themselves by getting into abusive relationships. On the larger social level, some people do gravitate to leaders they feel will carry out policies and agendas they themselves do not want to handle. Another reason is that those leaders provide a parental role – the followers want to believe their leaders know more than they do. The "toxic" follower will believe the lies of a toxic leader who promises lies they want to hear (like blaming a minority for their problems or pushing a false short term solution for a difficult problem), rather than accept a truth (such as a long term solution) they don't want to hear from someone else. (Lipman-Blumen, 2006). Hopefully those who are educated to this phenomenon will not fall prey to it.</p>
<p><b>Matt's Sources:</b></p>
<p>1. Breastfeeding.com (2012). The Nestle Boycott. Retrieved from: http://www.breastfeeding.com/advocacy/advocacy_boycott.html</p>
<p>2. Gottlieb, J. & Knoll, C. (2011). Robert Rizzo, aide accused of conspiracy in Bell corruption scandal. Retrieved from: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/31/local/la-me-0331-bell-indictment-20110331</p>
<p>3. Li, D. (2004) Journal of Genocide Research (2004), 6(1), March, 9–27 Carfax Publishing Blumen-Lipman, J. (2006). The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians – and How We can Survive Them. New York, NY: Oxford University Press</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-42265119127994451252012-02-13T08:00:00.010-06:002024-01-29T08:07:09.299-06:00Who Is Generation Z?<p><center><table frame="box"><tr><th bgcolor="#485086"><font size="3" color="#D1D6FA">Quick Summary:</font></th></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#D1D6FA"><font color="#485086"><ul><li>Generation Z follows Generation Y.
<li>Generation Z is born from 1996 to 2011
<li>Generation Z is smaller than Generation Y.
<li>Generation Z only knows of a world with the internet, this is why I refer to them as iGenZ.
<li>Generation Z (in the United States) faces a dismal economic future.</ul></font></td></tr>
</table></center>
<p>Many of the regular readers know all about <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html">Generation Y</a>, but may wonder about the following generation: Generation Z. The next fifteen year generation completed its final year of birth (2011), and will be coming of age over the next few decades. What we know about Generation Z at this time is that it's not as large as Generation Y, it only knows about a world with the internet, and it will face a dismal economic picture.</p>
<p>One potential inaccurate statistic that I'll state is that Generation Z is smaller than Generation Y. I state this without numbers because Generation Y is 80 to 86 million strong, whereas kids born from 1994 to 2004 (most of which are Generation Z, though it goes seven years after that date) are only <a href="http://sparxoo.com/2010/02/23/examining-generation-z-stats-demographics-segments-predictions/">23</a> million strong. Numerically speaking, even if the remaining 7 years of Generation Z doubled the first 8 years, it still wouldn't be larger than Generation Y (23 + 46 = 69). On top of this, with the economy current performing poorly, many people (especially <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html">Echo Boomers</a>!) have delayed <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-kay-hymnowitz-of-manhattan.html">family formation</a>: in fact, that's one of the things I write about on this blog. This has <i>sucked</i> some size from Generation Z.</p>
<p>The Millennial generation may not realize this, but many of its members can still recall a world without the internet. They can recall doing research by going to the library and searching manually through a database (gosh, I can remember looking through the actual cards!). The world has completely changed now: with the rise of the internet, Wikipedia, Google and some specialized blogs have become the major source of information, along with electronic news. <b>Generation Z</b> only knows the internet, as the youngest Generation Zer (born in 1996) would have been born in a world already with the internet. And about the time these early Generation Zers became fully conscious, the internet was becoming widespread. The effects of this fact remain to be seen: I cannot theorize at this time what this will mean for Generation Z. This is one reason that you will sometimes see me refer to Generation Z as iGenZ.</p>
<p>The United States as an economic superpower has declined rapidly over the last decade and this will have a major influence on both Generation Y and Z. Some young members of Generation Y might be able to recall a low national debt and a major surplus (2000), while this is completely foreign to Generation Z as they come of age. This change won't just affect the political spectrum and how Generation Z votes, but it will affect how Generation Z conducts business. The attitudes toward frugality may amp up in this generation if financial factors do not significantly change for the United States soon.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-28375674522747754472012-01-05T08:00:00.005-06:002024-03-17T06:04:33.424-05:00Interview: Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
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<p><center><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manning-Up-Rise-Women-Turned/dp/0465018424"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YiiIea1sL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></a></center><br />
<p>One prediction I make is that the Millennial generation will have a low <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/12/us-marriage-rate-drops-to-51.html">marriage rate</a>. However, there are other socioeconomic trends that play into my prediction - for instance, the growing emphasis on education can delay marital formation, as the claim by some media that young men and women seem to be drifting in different directions (this favors <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/01/cohabitation-versus-marriage.html">cohabitation</a> over marriage). Kay Hymowitz has written articles and even a book based on research into a few of these observations. From her <a href="http://www.manhattaninstitute.org/html/hymowitz.htm">Manhattan Institute bio</a>:<blockquote><b>Kay S. Hymowitz</b> is the William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. She writes extensively on childhood, family issues, poverty, and cultural change in America.<br />
<p>Hymowitz is the author of 4 books including <a href="http://www.manhattan-institute.org/marriage_and_caste/">Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age</a> and <a href="http://www.manhattan-institute.org/liberation/">Liberation's Children: Parents and Kids in a Postmodern Age</a>. Her newest book, <a href="http://www.manhattan-institute.org/manningup/">Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Is Turning Men Into Boys</a>, was published by Basic Books in March, 2011.<br />
<p>Ms. Hymowitz has also written for many major publications including <i>The New York Times</i>, the <i>Washington Post</i>, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, <i>The New Republic</i>, <i>New York Newsday</i>, <i>The Public Interest</i>, <i>The Wilson Quarterly</i>, and <i>Commentary</i>.<br />
<p>In addition to her writing, Hymowitz has presented her work at many conferences, most recently at "A New Era: Defining Civil Rights in the 21st Century," sponsored by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights She sits on the board of the journal National Affairs and of Future of Children, a publication of the Brookings Institute and the Woodrow Wilson School. She has also discussed her work on numerous radio and television programs.<br />
<p>A native of Philadelphia, Hymowitz has degrees in English literature from Brandeis, Tufts, and Columbia University. She and her husband have three grown children and live in Brooklyn.</blockquote><p><b>1. America tends to encourage its children to go to school for a good job in the business world. Suppose a young person decided against that (due to a growing zeitgeist questioning education), what three things would you advise that person?</b><br />
<p>I agree that college has been oversold. But now I fear the same is happening with the drop-out, start-up romance inspired by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Still, if you’re thinking of skipping college, keep in mind the following:<br />
<p>One, you are only 17 (or 18) and you probably don’t know much about yourself or about the way the world works. At its best, college can provide a time out to do some more growing up before you are set loose. But if you are someone who is very independent and self-motivated, if you have an idea of something you really want to do, if you can wake up in the morning knowing that it’s completely up to you to figure out how to make that happen without panicking, or without putting the pillow over your head and going back to sleep, go for it.<br />
<p>Two, avoid the “grand tour” and barista traps. The best way to learn about how to align your interests and the work place is to get a job. Don’t assume you’ll figure it out by travelling through South America. And don’t put it off by taking a job at Starbucks unless absolutely necessary. You need time in the workplace just to figure out the incredible variety and complexity of jobs today. Do you know what a risk analyst does? A script supervisor? A content strategist? Probably not. There’s a world out there of new and often exciting possibilities that you’ll need to learn about on your own.<br />
<p>Three: be ready to change your mind, maybe several times. People often have preconceptions about what kind of work would make them happy, only to find out they had no idea what the daily grind feels like. My son graduated from college, decided to follow his “dream” job as a sports announcer. After cold calling hundreds of people, developing tapes, offering to help a fledgling team for free, sleeping on floors in strange people’s apartments in strange cities, he got a position as an announcer for a minor league baseball team in Florida. Within six months, he realized he didn’t love sports as much as he had at 16. He took a job as a producer at MSNBC, got inspired by some of the pundits and commentators, decided to get a master’s degree in public policy, and at 30 went to work in international development in Africa. He never, ever could have seen that coming at 22.<br />
<p><b>2. According to Pew (as of 2010), the Millennial generation at its current age (18-28) has the lowest marriage rate compared to other American generations at that age. What factors have contributed to this? Also, how would you respond to people who predict that the Millennial generation will have a low marriage rate?</b><br />
<p>Let’s disentangle a few important strands of this discussion. It’s almost impossible to talk about what’s happening to marriage in the United States, among Millennials or anyone else, without talking about class. The widely discussed changes in marriage – by which people usually mean high divorce rates, nonmarital births, and nonmarriage – is concentrated among the lower and working class. That group is more likely to have children in their early or mid twenties while single or cohabiting. If trends continue as they have, they will eventually marry, though often not to the father or mother of their children.<br />
<p>The college educated middle class – and I presume that includes most of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb's</a> readers – do things differently. They are waiting to marry and to have children, often well into their 30’s. They have good reason to do that. Preparing for a high end career takes years of education, internships, fellowships, moving between jobs, possibly between different cities or even different countries. (See above.) It’s awfully hard to coordinate two careers during this time.
<p>Does this mean that Millennials will not marry in their 30’s or even their 40’s? Not based on my own observations - or the data. The percentage of educated women who get married has increased over the past decades; it’s the less educated who are marrying less. Also, the large majority of young people continue to say they want children someday. College educated men and women know from first-hand observation what research shows over and over: a child has a better chance at doing well in life – including graduating from college - if he or she grows up with her stable, married mother and father.<br />
<p>It’s worth mentioning, by the way, that disentangling the data in this way casts some doubt on the idea that marriage is “obsolete,” as in, no longer useful. Marriage continues to do what it’s always done: provide the most promising environment for raising the next generation. That may seem irrelevant to your life in your twenties; it won’t by the time you reach, say, 35.<br />
<p><b>3. What can be done with the educational system - if anything is necessary - to correct some of these social problems that you mention in your book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Manning-Up-Rise-Women-Turned/dp/0465018424">Manning Up</a>, such as young men avoiding/delaying maturity?</b><br />
<p><center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/troj3dlyQ8k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
<p>Up until fairly recently, people in their twenties knew exactly what was expected of them in the social realm: they were supposed to find someone to marry and start their families. Now, for the college educated at any rate, the twenties are primarily a decade for establishing a career. The social scripts – when or whether to marry, who asks for a date, who pays, whether or when to call after a hook up - have been tossed up in the air and have yet to come down. I think the ambiguities are particularly puzzling for men. Twentysomething women have more degrees, more money, and arguably more ambition than they do. Yet a lot of women still seem to want and expect some traditional moves of mating and dating from them. At the same time, they expect to be treated as equals. You have to be an emotional genius to figure it all out.<br />
<p>Adding to the tension is the biological clock. Women are aware, either consciously or not, that if they are planning to have a family, they’d better be settled with a husband by their mid 30’s when their fertility takes a big drop. That means they’re more likely to get serious about finding a mate in their later 20’s. With no biological pressure, men don’t have the same time frame. Some of them continue to think of themselves as boys – or “dudes” – and to think of adulthood as something way off in the distance.<br />
<blockquote><b>Editor's Note:</b> Kay has a point here and science agrees. <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2012/06/interview-dan-eisenberg-on-telomere.html" target="_blank">Dan Eisenberg's research</a> might indicate that older fathers carry an advantage that younger fathers don't possess. This could provide an evolutionary explanation why a few young women might prefer an older man, and also why a few men may not see the logic in maturing quickly - an older father could pass on genetice advantages to his offspring.</blockquote>
<p>I don’t think the educational system has much of a role in resolving these tensions. But for the sake of their own well being, it would be a good idea for Millennials to admit that they will probably marry and have children someday, just like previous generations have, and to think of their twenties as leading up to that major life task rather than just time for hooking up and hanging out. Freud used to say that happiness requires finding satisfaction in two things: love and work. He was wrong about a lot, but that little observation holds up pretty well.<br />
<p><b>Update:</b> updated a few errors, most notably, the last name!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-90347082774213751692011-12-20T08:00:00.009-06:002024-03-17T06:04:44.503-05:00Interview: Stephanie Coontz on Contemporary Families<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
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<p><center><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Stirring-Feminine-Mystique-American/dp/046502842X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1333805884&sr=8-6" target="_blank"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZCiC57LlL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></a></center>
<p>I've written extensively on <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-thing-generation-y-doesnt-like.html">marriage and the Millennial generation</a>. However, I've left out the issue of family from this socioeconomic analysis. I recently interviewed <a href="http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/">Stephanie Coontz</a>, who is the Director of Research and Public Education for the <a href="http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/">Council on Contemporary Families</a>. A brief bio:<blockquote>Stephanie Coontz teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, and is Director of Research and Public Education for the <a href="http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/">Council on Contemporary Families</a>. Her books include <a href="http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/books/marriage/">Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage</a>; <a href="http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/books/thewayweneverwere/">The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap</a>; and <a href="http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/books/astrangestirring/index.htm">A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s</a>. Her work has been translated into French, Spanish, Greek, German, Chinese, Norwegian, Swedish, and Japanese.</blockquote>Her work is not only helpful to us in order to understand family history, but also how families are evolving.<br />
<p><b>1. How have American families changed in the past century?</b><br />
<p>People tend to think that change has been linear, but that is not at all the case. 100 years ago, there was a sexual revolution going on every bit as shocking to contemporaries as anything in the past 20 years has been to modern Americans. There were also more immigrant families in America than today, and the divorce rate was rising precipitously, whereas today it has been falling for the past 30 years. And many more children spent some of their childhood in a single parent family, though that was more often a result of death than divorce. Eighty-two years ago, the US fell into the Great Depression. Divorce rates fell, but domestic violence, desertion, and abuse increased. Then came WWII, which led to a marriage and baby boom followed by a surge of divorce after the war. By 1946, 1 in 3 marriages was ending in divorce. The fact that so many marriages broke up so quickly is one of the reasons that divorce rates stayed fairly steady during the 1950s -- a lot of the shaky marriages had already ended in divorce. Most of us think of the 1950s as the era of the traditional family, but in fact the family arrangements of that day were very unusual. There were more male breadwinner families than than ever before or since. And the age of marriage reached an all-time low in 1960, with nearly half of all women married by age 20.<br />
<p>Still, taking all these variations into account, there have been some clear trends. The age of marriage has been rising steadily since the late 1960s and has now surpassed its previous historical high (which occurred in 1890). Premarital sex, cohabitation, and even having children out of wedlock are far more acceptable than in the past. And there have been interesting trade-offs: Men are doing much more childcare and housework in the past -- when they are present. But there are also more absent fathers then in the past. Successful marriages are fairer, more intimate, and more beneficial to all their members than in the past, but the same things that have made them so have also increased the alternatives to marriage and made an unsatisfying marriage seem less bearable to most people. And of course the increase in acceptance of same-sex couples has been stunningly rapid just in the past 20 years.<br />
<p><b>2. How would you address the claim made by some media that there's been a decline in family values? </b><br />
<p>If you look at the Pew Research Center polls on family life you will find that although Americans no longer believe that marriage is essential to a successful life, this does not mean they are giving up on marriage and other committed relationships. Most people say their family relationships are closer than those of their parents or grandparents. And millennials are more likely than older Americans to believe that adult children have the obligation to take in an aging parent if the parent needs assistance. Yes, there is more premarital sex than in the past, but sexual victimization rates have declined substantially in the past 20 years. So have domestic violence rates. Intergenerational relations are also closer. Even before the recession, we were seeing an increase in multigenerational households, partly because of economics, but partly because there has been a decline in generational mistrust, as a result of more democratic childrearing and more socializing between unmarried 20-somethings and their parents.<br />
<p>But of course, every time we solve one problem, we do create new challenges. The more freedom people gain to cultivate their own talents and pursue their own passions, the more possibility they have of going down dead-end streets or getting lost on an unmarked trail. The key is for us to try to figure out how to build on our new possibilities while minimizing our new vulnerabilities. One reason I volunteer my time at the Council on Contemporary Families is because this is an organization that does not waste time bemoaning what we have supposedly lost. Instead, CCF researchers and practitioners accept that family diversity is here to stay and try to get out the research and best-practice findings that will allow every family to build on its potential strengths and compensate for its weaknesses.<br />
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0_ZAEYnmhoY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
<p><b>3. What major concerns do you see - if any - for the future of families in the United States, and how can we address these (if needed)?</b><br />
<p>One big concern is the widening gap between low-income, poorly educated Americans and highly-educated, more economically secure Americans in their access to stable, satisfying relationships. Research suggests that the answer lies not in promoting marriage per se but in working on two fronts at once: improving the economic prospects of men and women without a college degree and providing relationship support and training for couples, especially couples with children, whether married, cohabiting or apart. <a href="http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/children-parenting/unmarried.html?q=edin+england">See this, for example</a>.<br />
<p>For Americans who do have good jobs, there is quite a different concern. Increasingly, well-paid and challenging jobs require such intense work hours that it is very difficult for men and women to combine their family responsibilities with their professional ones. At all income levels, Americans need stricter limits on the work week, more generous and subsidized leaves such as those found in Europe and the Nordic countries, and affordable, reliable child care. Given the shortage of jobs, this would be a good time to consider the 35-hour work week, and of course we need to reform health care so that families have more flexibility to work part-time or some protections when they are laid off.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-86430867295570638932011-12-15T08:00:00.039-06:002024-02-11T06:37:32.901-06:00Generation Y Fails In Privacy; 3 Reasons Why<p>Critics of Generation Y level statements that tend to be true about young people in general; for instance, <i>young people tend to be entitled</i>, and Echo Boomers certainly are. One criticism of Generation Y that I would offer, though seldom mentioned by critics, is disrespecting privacy. An <a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/gen-y-more-willing-to-break-it-rules-cisco-339327961.htm">article on IT rules</a> briefly mentions this from a study:</p>
<blockquote>Even worse, one out of three college students revealed that they do not think about privacy nor do they mind sharing personal data online. These respondents also said that they believe that privacy boundaries are loosening.</p><p>Yet, one in four experience identity theft before the age of 30, while at least two out of five college students know of friends or family members who have experienced identity theft.</p><p>"To us, there is a disconnect here that people are sharing so much but they're seeing grave consequences," Olechowski said.</p></blockquote>
<p>Based on observations (my own and others), I would adduce that some Echo Boomers either take their privacy for granted, or fail to understand the importance of privacy. This social trend is new as privacy has historically been a right that Americans value. On top of that, philosophers throughout history (Solomon, Plato, Nietzsche, Tzu) advise reticence.</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">Humorous Story</span>
<p>A while ago I watched <i>Into the Wild</i> with friends and their takeaway of the movie was to share experiences with others. Obviously there is some truth to this, but this can also be taken too far. Echo Boomers love this movie because it justifies their social media attention craze - "I'm sharing my experiences with others!" In most cases, they really value attention. Think about activities that Echo Boomers don't share and it's often because it doesn't get attention or it gets the wrong kind of attention.</p>
<p>For people who've traveled to other cultures, they see this contrast. In the US, you show off as much as you have - and Echo Boomers take this very far. However, this could get you killed in other countries. If you have resources, you live as if you don't have resources. You also don't overshare details because this could also endanger you (or be misinterpreted). The reason why I bring this up is that Echo Boomers will often state, "Everyone wants attention." This is completely false! There are many people who want to stay far away from attention.</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">Why Echo Boomers Don't Value Privacy</span>
<p>So why do Echo Boomers share so much personal information and fail to respect their own and others' privacy? 3 possible reasons:</p>
<ol><li><a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/09/internet-beats-dating-partying-status.html">Information is being used as a way to obtain mass attention</a> (ie: "attention-whoring"), not necessarily to inform people of something valuable (ie: "Facebook IPO set at $[x] billion").</li>
<li>Assuming the previous reason, this would mean that private information would receive more attention than common information. For instance, seeing something unusual at the mall is less amazing than engaging in borderline illegal behavior. The latter, in the past, might remain unmentioned, but in a world where everyone is shouting at the top of their lungs for attention, the latter stands out. In a battle for attention, you got to stand out!</li>
<li>Assuming the previous two reasons, value is <i>perceived</i> as a concept determined solely by others. For instance, if most of your friends think your experience was awesome, it's awesome, even if you didn't necessarily think your experience was awesome. In other words, you don't determine value; others determine value for you (based on popularity). <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/04/oph-topik-do-echo-boomers-lack-empathy.html">Technology changes the dimension of social relationships</a>, and privacy (like empathy) is one of those factors. I realize this is an extremely philosophical point but if you stop and think about this point, it has powerful indications about Echo Boomers (and value in general).</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm not writing that any of these are true in objective reality. These are how Echo Boomers see privacy - they don't value it. Privacy to an Echo Boomer is a lack of attention. They want attention! They're concept of value is centered around what other people value. This is why attention whoring is so popular among Echo Boomers.</p>
<p><span class="toneheader">What Will This Mean For Businesses?</span>
<p>What this means going forward is that Echo Boomers are going to think that others' business is their business. This won't only affect laws, it will affect businesses. Echo Boomers won't think that your business should be private, especially if they think their peers should know. They will make moral judgements on the basis of what their peers think. This also will affect Echo Boomers themselves because their peers' view of what they do will affect their own view. Suppose that an Echo Boomer has an amazing night but his friends think he wasted his time. His view will change because of how his peers think, not because of what he thinks. Therefore, it's not what an Echo Boomer thinks about your product, it's what <b>Echo Boomers</b> think about your product.</p>
<p>This is why social media use is so popular with Echo Boomers - they are very concerned with what their peers value. A generation that cares little about what others think would rarely share their life. This is both positive and negative. On the one hand, this could be extremely negative for businesses when it comes to protecting private information. On the positive, you only need to get so many Echo Boomers vocal about your product before they share it with their network and convince other Echo Boomers it has value.</p>
<p>As to how this all plays out in the long run, see the Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union from history.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-37734736046823706562011-12-06T08:00:00.004-06:002024-02-06T08:32:24.348-06:00What Industries Will Be Winners or Losers With Generation Y?<font size="4">What They Want <i>Now</i> and What They <i>Will</i> Want</font></p>
<p><a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html">Echo Boomers</a> are changing our society in a multitude of ways. The Millennial generation doesn't want what its parents wanted, and if you want your business to succeed or if you want to lower the probability that you'll be in the unemployment line, take note of the winners and losers with this generation now and in the future.</p>
<p><b>Winner: <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/rise-of-renters.html">The Rise of the Renters</a></b>.</p>
<p>I could write pages on why Echo Boomers won't own homes like former generations, but I think numbers and graphs tell a better story. Only <b>a third of Echo Boomers express interest in ever owning a home.</b> And the current data?</p>
<center><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--GUzuOd5hBQ/TdJiXcnb09I/AAAAAAAAAGc/ehrN1m2batI/s1600/allliving.jpg"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--GUzuOd5hBQ/TdJiXcnb09I/AAAAAAAAAGc/ehrN1m2batI/s1600/allliving.jpg" border="0" height="241" width="400"></a></center></p>
<p>I expect that things will change over the next few decadesrs, but for now, real estate agents will struggle with this generation in selling homes. Of course, if real estate agents focus their energy on landlords they might succeed. Otherwise, if you rent out decent homes or apartments, prepare for a large customer base among Echo Boomers, but be aware that they can move out quickly if they don't like it.</p>
<p>As for the type of real estate - Echo Boomers are the social generation. They love living around their friends.</p>
<p><b>Winner: Education Is the New Homeownership.</b></p>
<p>Yes, I think that education is in a serious bubble (see <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-will-higher-education-bubble-pop.html">When Will the Higher Education Bubble Pop?</a>). But I doubt that the Millennial generation will recognize this. The reason for my doubt: over half of Echo Boomers state interest in pursuing a degree, and a third of Echo Boomers with degrees already want to go to graduate school or further their education in some way.</p>
<p>The next generation (iGenZ) may see the error in their older siblings ways: too much faith in education. But for now, there's no indication among the Echo Boomers I speak to that they're changing their view on education. As I've stated in my posts, the stories Echo Boomers tell about education over time will foreshadow whether iGenZ and future generations respect higher education.</p>
<p>The winners here are the trade schools and community colleges - not only do you save Echo Boomers money, Echo Boomers tend to recommend these places to their friends. In fact, when other Echo Boomers go back to school during an education bubble a community college or trade school will hold the highest appeal. Large universities still attract top students, so for now, they're winning too.</p>
<p><b>Loser and Winner: Marriage Is Dead, But Other Opportunities Exist</b></p>
If you're in school, and you're considering becoming a divorce attorney or marital counselor, beware: <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-thing-generation-y-doesnt-like.html">only 21% of Echo Boomers are married!</a> Those may have been the hot professions at one time (especially divorce attorneys), but the future seems dim for them now. Unless those 21% of Echo Boomers line up in divorce court or try to "work things out," the need for divorce law or marital counseling may be history. You could always do the bureaucratic thing and overcomplicate their life in some other way - that is what both of your professions are good at.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that while Echo Boomers are ditching marriage, they seem to favor <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-we-seeing-rise-of-relationship.html">serial monogamy</a>, which might become its own profitable industry. For instance, Susan Walsh asserted about the <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-susan-walsh-of-hooking-up.html">hook up culture in our interview</a>:</p><blockquote>I see hookup culture sticking around for a long while, but there is some backlash already occurring.
...
HPV is causing cancers in both sexes, and there is a strain of gonorrhea in the UK, which is now considered untreatable. Of course, there’s the very real possibility of a new, opportunistic virus, much as we saw with AIDS in the early 80s. A worsening of the outlook in this area could create behavioral changes.</blockquote><p>Behavioral changes may create more marriages, but if we see increased STDs or increased protective methods against these diseases, some businesses will need to create these products - whether prescription drugs or advanced protective measures.</p>
<p>And with marriage rates declining, Echo Boomers seem to be putting their money into other places: the fitness industry, the outdoor industry, and the fashion industry. In other words, you still have many other opportunities to have a wide customer base. Keep an eye out for the single Echo Boomers and watch where they spend their money (see <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-female.html">Products and Services for Single Female Echo Boomers</a> and <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/products-and-services-for-single-male.html">Products and Services for Single Male Echo Boomers</a>).</p>
<p><b>Other winners:</b></p>
<p>1. Technology - if you're in the engineering profession, prepare to work. Since I've been speaking with engineers at several local colleges, robotics seems to come up the most. There is a growing demand for electrical engineers to perfect the robotics industry.</p>
<p>2. Medical - Echo Boomers will need more medical care as they age. Keep in mind, the obesity rate the in the United States is growing, and this offers medical opportunities for doctors, nurses and those in the research field. I do not expect Echo Boomers to have longer life expectancies than their parents, so they will need medical earlier than you might expect.</p>
<p>3. Innovative Science - the world faces major hurdles in the twenty-first century, and this industry will boom <i>if</i> science continues to overcome these hurdles. Innovative Science includes, but is not limited to, stem cell research, fuel cell technology, electric cars and transportation, robotics, and 3D printing.</p>
<p>4. Green Energy Industry - Echo Boomers like environmentally friendly companies, and green energy not only saves money, but builds a sustainable world. Echo Boomers are unlikely to forget $4 gallon per gallon of gas.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-1166978299558132102011-11-17T08:00:00.055-06:002024-03-17T06:04:56.866-05:00Interview: Susan Walsh of Hooking Up Smart<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
<!-- END: interview lead -->
<p>In the past, I was asked about hooking up and I wrote a short post, <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/09/generation-y-and-hook-up-culture.html">Generation Y and the Hook Up Culture</a>. However, I got in touch with Susan Walsh, who writes <a href="http://www.hookingupsmart.com/">Hooking Up Smart</a>. A quick introduction from her <a href="http://www.hookingupsmart.com/about-hooking-up-smart/">site</a>:<blockquote>Since earning my MBA in 1983 from The Wharton School, I have worked with companies and non-profit organizations to identify key challenges and opportunities, and formulate winning strategies. Launched in November, 2008, Hooking Up Smart brings together my passion and concern for young women with a professional, practical and systematic problem-solving approach.<br />
<p>[She also describes herself as a "cool mom" which is awesome.]</blockquote>In other words, she is an expert in the hook up culture.<br />
<p><b>1. People have expressed interest in learning about the current hook up culture that's popular among Echo Boomers, and a few other generations. Given that you counsel young women (and it seems, young men too) on the hook up culture and hooking up smart, could you give a brief explanation of what the hook up culture is?</b>.
<p><center><img src="http://b.vimeocdn.com/ps/266/740/2667405_300.jpg"></center>
<p><ul><li>Hooking up is a term to describe a sexual encounter between two people. It is a deliberately vague expression (providing plausible deniability), and can mean making out, having intercourse, or anything in between.<br />
<li>Hooking up has replaced traditional dating on college campuses, and has also become prevalent in the general population and culture. The hallmark of hooking up is the clear understanding between both parties that the encounter will be free from any expectations for further contact. It is designed to avoid the possibility of commitment. However, hooking up is still the primary pathway to a potential romantic relationship, although only 12% of hookups eventually lead to relationships.<br />
<li>The hookup script reverses the sexual norm; the pair becomes sexual first, before emotional intimacy or a relationship is established.<br />
<li>Hooking up is awkward for both sexes. Most students get drunk to relax inhibition about getting naked with a stranger. Research shows that hooking up is not something unplanned that happens when people drink. Rather, young people drink heavily with the full intention of hooking up later in the evening.</ul><p><b>2. It seems like there's a lot of pressure on young women to "be like men" in any and all ways. What - if any - are the potential consequences and/or benefits to this pressure? And why does Western culture assume that it's a "man's world" (being a man, I hardly feel like it's our world 96.7% of the time)?</b> <p>First, hookup culture is the consequence of the Sexual Revolution, which occurred as a result of the Women’s Movement and the introduction of the Pill. Once women were able to have sex without fear of pregnancy, and with the blessing of Second Wave Feminists, they set out to have sex without restraint, much in the way that men did. When colleges stopped acting <i>in loco parentis</i>, the stage was set with coed dorms, and the hookup became the prevalent mode of male-female sexual interaction. <p>What happened over a period of 50 years is the loss of assortive mating. That is, it used to be the case that sex was tied to commitment, and people often married their first sexual partners. People generally married a mate with similar characteristics – education, intelligence, socioeconomic background and physical attractiveness. <p>As casual sex became more prevalent, and the Women’s Movement provided opportunities for women to pursue more education and professional careers, the average age at marriage increased significantly. In the meantime, both men and women seek sex, whether casual or in long-term relationships. However, they no longer limit themselves to people of similar traits. <blockquote><i>[Some of what Susan Walsh mentions here may come in the form of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-we-seeing-rise-of-relationship.html">serial monogamy</a>, which is growing in popularity as well.]</i></blockquote><p>As the gatekeepers of sex, women soon learned that while they might not hope to marry a man significantly more attractive or higher status than themselves, it is quite possible to command his attention in the short-term – often just for one night. This has led to a sexual “wealth gap” in the population, in accordance with the Pareto Principle. That is, 20% of the men are deemed highly desirable by women. They have the most options for sex, and as a result are the least likely to form committed relationships, especially at a young age. The other 80% struggle to find mates of similar traits, even if they’re willing to offer commitment. I’ve also estimated that about 20% of women are highly promiscuous. They seek short-term male attention. The other 80% recognize that they are unlikely to garner much male attention without offering casual hookups.<p><center><img src="http://s4.hubimg.com/u/3788615_f496.jpg"></center><p>In this way, the idea that it’s a “man’s world” or that men have it made is misleading. A small percentage of men have it made. I don’t see any real winners among the women, frankly. Some women do enjoy no-strings sex, and are not seeking a relationship, but many struggle with feelings of regret, depression and low self-esteem. <p><b>3. I've heard two basic theories about the future of anything: the pendulum analogy, where things go back and forth from one extreme to the other, and the slippery slope analogy, where once things go downhill, they never return (note to readers: both of these are fallacies in logic). But based on your interaction with people involved in the hook up culture and dating, experience in the pros and cons of each, and knowledge of Western culture, what do you see for the future in terms of (dating/hooking up/seeing each other) interactions between men and women?</b> <p>That’s a very interesting question, and we debate it at <a href="http://www.hookingupsmart.com/">Hooking Up Smart</a> all the time. Personally, I subscribe more to the pendulum theory. History is characterized by large swings in morality, with periods of extreme hedonism followed by more disciplined or restrictive norms. I see hookup culture sticking around for a long while, but there is some backlash already occurring. In the three years I’ve been blogging, college student newspapers have been printing a greater number of editorials by students opposing the culture. One thing that’s interesting to note is that while most students believe it’s common, and that many other students are hooking up regularly, 90% of college students have only 0-5 sexual partners during their four years. So the culture doesn’t really reflect the reality, but it dominates nonetheless. <p>Another possibility is a crisis in sexual health. STDs continue to spread rapidly, and are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment. HPV is causing cancers in both sexes, and there is a strain of gonorrhea in the UK, which is now considered untreatable. Of course, there’s the very real possibility of a new, opportunistic virus, much as we saw with AIDS in the early 80s. A worsening of the outlook in this area could create behavioral changes. <p>We’re in uncharted territory, and the Sexual Marketplace feels hostile to most people. My own view is that regardless of what is happening in the culture at large, each individual has the agency to formulate and implement a strategy that is most likely to help them meet their personal mating objectives. At <a href="http://www.hookingupsmart.com/">HookingUpSmart.com</a>, I’m working on the margins. There are always opportunities in chaos, and hookup culture is no exception.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-35960544609331926222011-11-16T08:00:00.067-06:002024-03-17T06:05:16.091-05:00Interview: Sander Daniels of Thumbtack<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
<!-- END: interview lead -->
<p>After my recent article on Forbes, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2011/11/02/when-will-the-education-bubble-explode/">When Will the Education Bubble Explode</a>, I had an email exchange with Sander Daniels of <a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/">Thumbtack</a>, who had some fascinating information to share about student loans, especially regarding liberal arts versus technical degrees.</p>
<p><font size="4">Anyone Considering Education: <u>Pay Attention To This Interview</u></font></p>
<p><i>This could end up saving you a huge amount of time and money and provide you with many more opportunities than those who went to a "traditional" school. Or if you know anyone who's considering college, forward/email/Facebook/Tweet this to them immediately.</i></p>
<p><b>1. You recently released data "showing that service professionals with a bachelor's degree earn no more than those with a technical college degree." For readers, explain the details and finding of these data and what this means for people considering a bachelor's versus a technical degree.</b>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/">Thumbtack</a> is an online marketplace for local services. So anyone who offers any kind of local service - from a <a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/ca/los-angeles/general-contractors/">contractor in Los Angeles</a>, to <a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/mn/minneapolis/portrait-photographers/">a portrait photographer in Minneapolis</a>, to <a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/tx/houston/chef/vintage-ice-cream-truck-comes-to-you">an ice cream truck in Houston</a>, etc. - can list themselves on our site. More than 225,000 independent professionals have listed themselves on Thumbtack since 2009.</p>
<p>We surveyed these professionals and asked "What is the highest level of education you have reached?" A little more than 11,000 people responded, with answers ranging from "high school degree" to "doctoral degree".</p>
<p>Since these professionals advertise their services on Thumbtack, they frequently list the price at which they offer their service. For example, <a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/va/fairfax/photographer/all-occasions-photography-services">this photographer</a> offers her service at $95-195 per hour.</p>
<p>We found something very surprising when we mapped average hourly rate against educational achievement. We expected to see hourly rates rise with a higher level of education, and that's exactly what we found - except that the hourly rate for those with technical degrees and those with undergraduate degrees was exactly the same.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9e15899abe&view=att&th=133a89df624170c5&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_133a88e368ff41c4&zw" height="475" width="500"></center></p>
<p>These findings aren't conclusive - perhaps Thumbtack members with technical degrees and undergraduate degrees aren't representative of all people with technical degrees and undergraduate degrees. And there are certainly advantages to getting a broad education at a four-year college over getting a vocational education at a two-year school.</p>
<p>But if I could go back in time and choose between a four-year liberal arts degree and a two-year technical degree, these data would make me think twice. These data at least make it clear that more education doesn't always mean a higher income.</p>
<p><b>2. You mentioned that you work with a team of Echo Boomers at Thumbtack. What things do you do there at Thumbtack and how can readers, who may be business owners or local merchants, use your services?</b></p>
<p>Thumbtack is a relatively young company. We're a company of 12 people based in San Francisco. We're all between 25 and 33.</p>
<p>It's a fun place to work - not only do we have an open working environment with a private chef who cooks meals every day, but we also feel like we're creating something truly innovative - and helping out small businesses in doing so.</p>
<p><center><img src="https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9e15899abe&view=att&th=133a89df624170c5&attid=0.2&disp=emb&realattid=ii_133a89ade867b38a&zw" height="425" width="575"></center><br />
<p>Thumbtack offers small businesses and independent professionals a home online. It's free to list yourself and advertise your services on our site. In general, people really like the look of their profile - some people spend hours setting it up, filling it out, and making it look nice.</p>
<p>We also bring work to you. If someone comes to our site looking for a caterer for their holiday barbeque, we'll email that job to those in the area who can do that service. This is how we make our money - it costs a bit of money to respond to that client and pitch your services.</p>
<p>In general, the response to Thumbtack has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to coming to work every day. More than 4,000 small businesses list themselves on Thumbtack every week, and a new user signs up on our site every minute of every day.</p>
<p>We love what we do, and encourage you to check us out!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-78811964463960554542011-11-10T16:00:00.010-06:002024-02-09T08:36:40.150-06:00Tesla Motors' Other Vehicle<p>The other Tesla car that will come out: <a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/models/facts">Tesla Model S</a>. <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-killed-electric-car-no-one.html">See, no one killed the electric car.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-52321015796719632642011-11-09T12:00:00.005-06:002024-02-03T10:13:38.074-06:00Who Killed the Electric Car? No One.<p><font size="4">The Coming Electric Car Boom: 3 Hot Electric Cars</font></p>
<p>Some already out, and more coming during 2012, these 3 electric cars should be top sellers and expect more electric cars to come.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster">Tesla Roadster</a>: the expensive electric car that's already in the market. But Tesla Motors is already creating other electric cars that will appeal to average consumers. What's more interesting than Tesla Motors? Their CEO: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk">Elon Musk</a>. The next Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller, anyone?</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf">Nissan Leaf</a>: an expensive electric car, but one that will appeal to some middle-class environmentalists.</p>
<p><a href="http://i.mitsubishicars.com/">Mitsubishi i</a>: remember that <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-cars-will-generation-y-buy.html">Mitsubishi is number 2 in car sales to Echo Boomers</a>, and this addition will help seal their top position for the next generation.</p>
<p>Trust me, there will be naysayers: "Oh those are just TOO expensive" which will easily fall to pieces when gas prices rise above $4 a gallon (and they will in the long run). Also, recall that all new technology costs a lot of money in the beginning, but becomes cheaper in time (see the below video of Bill Gates talking about energy).</p>
<blockquote><b>Starting around 1:20</b>
<p><i>Now the price of energy has come down over time</i> [see graph in video to see how far its fallen]. <i>Really advanced civilization is really based on advances in energy.<br />
<p>...<br />
<p>Even in the 1900s we've seen a very rapid decline of the price of electricity.</i></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2010/Blank/BillGates_2010-320k.mp4" target="_blank">Video link</a> (video embedding is no longer supported).</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-44407630050500791172011-10-03T08:00:00.049-05:002024-02-06T08:20:01.601-06:00Do Echo Boomers Want Money, Sex or Self-Esteem Boosts?<p>A humorous <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/generation-ys-most-coveted-reward-self-esteem/2011/09/28/gIQAZwaZ4K_blog.html">Monday article</a> on what the Millennial generation prefers. <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/p/who-are-echo-boomers.html">Echo Boomers</a> apparently will take a self-esteem boost over money, food and sex. Granted, studies like this can be heavily affected by the survey's wording (ie: "your preferred self-esteem boost"). Some thoughts before taking away anything from this survey:</p>
<p>1. A self-esteem boost could be any number of things. Echo Boomers might think of a raise as a self-esteem boost, in which case they would be making more money. They may also see hooking up with a hot boy/girl as a self-esteem boost. Notice how alcohol consumption scored very low - this of all the options would have the lowest affect on an Echo Boomer's self-esteem (or so I would imagine). However, an Echo Boomer's favorite self-esteem boost still beats more money, sex, etc.</p>
<p>2. The article highlights the repeated point that Echo Boomers are the trophy generation. Echo Boomers grew accustomed to receiving feedback on a regular basis and Penelope Trunk has noted this as well - Echo Boomers love feedback. In interacting with thousands of Echo Boomers, I have observed that they highly value verbal positive feedback over many other forms of praise and they like this praise public. In a few tests that I've done, I noticed that public praise beat actual rewards like gift cards. This does align with them receiving participation trophies when they were younger and being praised for participating.</p>
<p>3. Businesses and employers have a variety of ways to use this. Don't assume that traditional rewards will affect Echo Boomers in the same way that they would affect Generation X or Baby Boomers.</p>
<p>4. This does not apply to all Echo Boomers.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8046120800789197940.post-71702572410780041362011-08-12T08:00:00.016-05:002024-03-17T06:05:37.973-05:00Interview: Austrian Economics With Dr. Paul Cwik<!-- BEGIN: interview lead -->
<p><i>The responses to the interview questions may not represent the views of <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/">The Echo Boom Bomb</a>'s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09040408772627759240">author</a>. These interviews are provided to inform readers of information from experts and provide these experts with a medium where they can answer questions without any content changes. All linked material to products in interviews such as books or videos are affiliated with the supported platforms, such as Amazon or others. To see the full list of interviews related to Echo Boomers, iGenZ or Automons, <a href="https://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/2024/03/review.html" target="_blank">see the ending acknowledgements on this post</a>.</i></p>
<!-- END: interview lead -->
<p>Instead of any <a href="http://echoboombomb.blogspot.com/search/label/Millennial%20Q%20and%20A">Millennial Q and A</a> this Friday, I recently had an exchange with Dr. Paul Cwik, an Austrian economist at Mount Olive College. He blogs at <a href="http://tillmanspeaks.blogspot.com/">Tillman School of Business</a> and provides some fascinating insights to our economy, for instance <a href="http://tillmanspeaks.blogspot.com/p/economic-distress-index.html">Economic Distress Index</a> and <a href="http://tillmanspeaks.blogspot.com/p/yield-curve-inversions.html">Yield Curve Inversions</a>. For further information on these, you can <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fee-austrian-economics-seminar/id290921643">listen to free podcasts</a> from The Foundation For Economic Education (FEE).</p>
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<p><b>1. The prevailing C+I+G+(net exports) focuses on consumption as the main driver for economic growth and prosperity. What is the main driver in the Austrian view and how does that look in comparison.</b></p>
<p>The classic Keynesian formulation for measuring the Macroeconomy is National Income (Y) = Consumption (C) + Investment (I) + Government Spending (G) + Net Exports (X-M). In this formulation, Y = GDP and so it is true that C is the largest share of GDP. The rational conclusion is that GDP will move whenever C moves. In other words, C is the prime mover (main driver) of GDP.</p>
<p>The unfortunate part of the story above is that it is NOT a complete answer. GDP is a measure of final goods and services. It is constructed in the above manner so that double counting does not occur. While GDP does a fair job for what it was designed to do, it does not reflect the overall health of an economy. Just take a moment and think about what we mean with "the final goods sectors" of the economy. The final goods and services sectors are the "Do you want fries with that?" sort of jobs. Most jobs (and really most business activity) does not take place at the consumer level.</p>
<p>It is true that the only reason why we go to work is in order to consume later. We first enter the market place and sell (usually our labor services) to others before we can withdraw goods and services from society. Each dollar is a representation of service. We gain them by serving others. The way in which a market economy reflects the degree of service that we provide to others is through the accumulation of money.</p>
<p>A portion of these dollars are then used to consume, while the rest are saved. We defer consumption. When we choose not to run out to the store and blow the entire paycheck, we are deferring consumption. This suspension of consumption frees up resources to be used in other ways, namely used in the formation of capital.</p>
<p>Capital is absolutely essential for an economy to grow. Not only does it increase the productive power of the individual, it also allows individuals to create something new--products that would never come about otherwise.</p>
<p>And so we see the "Magic Formula" for economic growth: Savings leads to investment; investment is used to build capital equipment; and capital increases our productivity. As we become more productive, we become more valuable as workers. In other words, our real wages rise as a result. The increase in productivity also expands output, which increases our ability to consume. In short, this is how we raise our living standards.</p>
<p>So while the Keynesian economist focuses on the short-run aggregate of Consumption, the Austrian economist looks for the larger picture. When consumption falls, the Keynesian says that this is a calamity and must be reversed at all costs. It requires government to tax and spend in order to boost aggregate demand and supplant the drop in consumption.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Austrian economist sees that there is a trade-off between present and future consumption. A decrease in today's consumption is not the end of the world. We are deferring consumption and building up capital for future output expansions. In fact, the Austrian will see the government's attempts to prop up aggregate demand as not only delaying the inevitable, but it is a waste of resources, making a bad situation worse.</p>
<blockquote>Do you want more details about the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49rMeA1gyO0">Click here to watch Dr. Paul Cwik at FEE</a>. He provides a great Power Point presentation and further details (you can <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32345180/Business%20Cycles%202011.ppt">pull up his Power Point slides directly</a> as well to see a comprehensive view of the Austrian view of Business cycles).</blockquote>
<p><b>2. How would an Austrian economist view a consumption tax as opposed to an income tax?</b></p>
<p>There is no real answer here except for personal preference. Murray Rothbard wrote an excellent article called, <a href="http://mises.org/rothbard/myth.pdf">"The Myth of Neutral Taxation."</a> It is a little long, but the short summary is that all taxes distort the economy somehow.</p>
<p>A tax on beer reduces beer consumption. Why? Because a tax is a disincentive for whatever is being taxed. So a tax on consumption discourages consumption and an income tax discourages earning an income. While it is true that people need to consume and earn an income, that idea misses the economic point. People will do less of the taxed activity. Government is putting its thumb down on the scales and tilting it in a particular direction.</p>
<p>The best that I, as a citizen, can hope for is a minimization of governmental distortions to the market place. In order to achieve that, taxes must be broad, not favoring one group over another, and light. Both consumption taxes and income taxes can be broad and light. The question isn't <i>which tax is better</i>, the question should be <i>which is lighter?</i></p>
<p>I am in favor of the system that taxes in the least burdensome manner.</p>
<p>The devil is in the details when it comes to measuring burden, because we can't assume that people will voluntarily pay taxes, nor can we assume that the bureaucracy will be incorruptible and efficient. As a result, it comes.</p>
<p><b>3. This blog is concerned with the Millennial generation, many of whom have told me that they feel helpless about our current economy. However, are there ways in which Echo Boomers can help Austrian economics become an influential view point in public policy decisions? And if so, what would those be?</b></p>
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<p>Leonard Read was the founder of the <a href="http://www.fee.org/">Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)</a>. He would talk about how when he golfed, no one took any notice of him. Then he observed that if Arnold Palmer showed up, he (Palmer) would be mobbed. Everyone would want to meet him, shake his hand and then ask him about his thoughts on their swing, form, grip, etc. Why would no one mob Read, but they would mob Palmer? The answer is obvious--Palmer was an acknowledged expert in the field of golf.</p>
<p>People seek answers to questions from those they think are knowledgeable in different fields. When it comes to the field of economics, each of us has to become more expert. We need to deepen our own understanding of the topic. If we don't, then we won't be able to answer questions.</p>
<p>The next thing that Read would do is turn off the lights in the lecture hall and turn on a single light bulb. The light bulb had an adjustable dial. He would set it at the lowest setting. In that dark room, even the lowest setting drew everyone's eye to it. We are the light bulbs. As we acquire more knowledge, we become brighter. People will find out where the bright bulbs are. They will seek them out. We cannot go out and attempt to bludgeon others with our ideas. People are attracted to the humble. They are turned off by the loud.</p>
<p>This creates a dilemma for us. If we are to be quiet and humble, how can we have our voice heard in the shouting match that we call civil discourse? Well, there is a world of difference between being quiet and not saying anything. We don't have to shout down our opponents. We have truth, reason and empirical evidence on our side.</p>
<p>Now that I am a parent, find it difficult to remember that I don't have to yell at the kids. I have all of the power. If don't do X, they don't get Y. It's really that simple. I don't have to yell.</p>
<p>Obviously, we are not the parents of the US and so we don't have that same power. Nevertheless, we don't have to yell. People are naturally attracted to positive, optimistic, good-natured individuals who can emote their concern with others. We, each, have the capacity to be nice. Be nice and really mean it.</p>
<p>What concrete steps can we take? Well, there is no single answer to this. <b>THERE IS NO CENTRAL PLAN FOR FREEDOM</b>. Each person is the author of his own life. Each must determine what is the best use of his individual talents, and then act.</p>
<p>However, I will give you one concrete example.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to go to one's Town Council meetings. These are usually small, local affairs. Very few people attend. As a result, you will stand out. Almost always there is an open forum for people to address the council. I suggest that you attend each meeting. For each meeting prepare a 5 minute talk on a specific topic that relates to the Free Market and a local issue. Educate. Be kind. Demonstrate that you are a light. Show that you are interested. The local newspapers will initially cover you. You can then build on that exposure.</p>
<p>The goal is to change the hearts and minds of those who are interested in the levers of power (i.e., the people at the council meetings). You must never lose your temper. Must always be above reproach. Must always be dressed nicely (but not over the top). Try to present alternative solutions to local problems. If such things are attainable in a small community, then the larger communities will start to notice. It takes persistence, but it does not take a genius. It takes you.</p>
<p><i>Awesome stuff</i>. I appreciate Dr. Paul Cwik taking out the time and answering these questions, and I hope that it offers a good introduction to Austrian economics. I cannot recommend the <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fee-austrian-economics-seminar/id290921643">FEE podcast</a> enough. Also, be sure to check out Dr. Paul Cwik’s blog, <a href="http://tillmanspeaks.blogspot.com/">Tillman School of Business</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com