Lateral Drift

If you have already read my previous post on the car company Tesla then you know how much I love their cars.  I am hoping that they will become the Henry Ford of electric cars and revolutionize an American industry in dire need of a innovative change.  While visiting their site today I just found the newest press release that showed Tesla Roadster owner, Simon Hackett, breaking the electric car distance record with a whopping 313 miles on just one charge!  That is enough to make it almost halfway lengthwise across the state of California.  You can view the press release at their website here.

Today’s words from the wise is slightly more difficult to digest but I think an interesting tidbit of Nietzsche’s arguments regarding the bias or prejudice of philosophers.

“They [philosophers] all pose as though their real opinions had been discovered and attained through the self-evolving of a cold, pure, divinely indifferent dialectic…;whereas, in fact, a prejudiced proposition, idea, or ’suggestion,’ which is generally their heart’s desire abstracted and refined, is defended by them with arguments sought out after the event.  They are all advocates who do not wish to be regarded as such, generally astute defenders, also, of their prejudices, which they dub ‘truths’”

-Friedrich Nietzsche, A Nietzsche Compendium: Beyond Good and Evil, pg 15-16

I don’t want to restate what I have already posted over at my other site Quintfinance, but if you are interested in learning a little more about what exactly happened with the mortgage crisis please check out Quintfinance, or go directly to the audio I recommend at This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money.

I was introduced to this artist’s video by a friend and was very impressed with his abilities.  He is a local Minnesota artist (my home state), goes by the name of Heatbox, and is solid.  I don’t have too much to say, so enjoy!

I thought I would make a quick post today about a really cool application from Minnesota Public Radio that allows you to make your own US budget and see how it affects the economy and deficit.  It will also give you an estimate for when the country is likely to go bust based on your decisions.  I have been looking at the FAQ and they have done their homework in terms of the modeling and have used sources such as the Congressional Budget Office’s forecasting and budget models.  It’s a fun app and informative as well.  It is a painless way to see how different policy decisions affect the future. Click the graphic below to play.

Having under my belt about a year of job searching experience since graduating with a 4-year degree, I have had a lot of first hand exposure to the opportunities available in the market.  Being a finance student my scenario might be slightly different from others but generally speaking I have found other graduates to be facing similar issues.  So what is the dilemma or trap, for those of you lucky enough to not know about it.  Well, I find the best way to describe it would be in terms of a gap or hole in the hiring of entry level jobs.  I wish to further say that this does not mean necessarily that there are not entry-level jobs available; there are, but that the experience or expectations required for these positions are out of reach for those who have recently graduated, many times, out of reach even for those with internships on their resumes like myself.  For example, you might see an entry level job open up (using a finance position) for an analyst.  This job offers entry-level pay and duties but desires 2+ years of experience in the field.  Worse yet, sometimes they want experience directly related to the position, so even if you had worked in that particular field you would not meet the desired attributes.

Will this gap close?  I am skeptical.  Reason being that there is a glutton of advanced degrees that have found themselves out of work as well in the recent year and because of this they will trump the new graduate in any available position.  This trend is further exacerbated by the large amount of people that because of their inability to find work, have returned to college.  No, it is unlikely it seems to me that entry-level jobs will become prevalent and accessible again until sales pick up and some say that we might not be able to expect the same consumer drive from our market that we once saw.  Instead they have begun to encourage countries like China to become greater consumers to bolster sales and revive the economy.

I wonder to myself what effect this hiring gap might have on companies as in the coming years larger portions of their senior staff retire.  Will their lack of desire to take risks on fresh graduates leave holes in their organization?  It’s a complicated issue, and one which I don’t claim to know the answers.  But for those of you who have faced similar difficulties like me; hang in there.  I know its tough and filling out application after application which include the phrase, “Please no calls”, can be frustrating but what other choice do we have!  Start a company?  Maybe.  I wish I knew the answer.  Best of luck!