It's Different This Time: Humans Need Not Apply

Sure. You can make $15 an hour at McDonald's, at least in Seattle. You just have to perform better than this machine.

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/its-different-this-time-humans-need-not.html#ddxc55qyZLzEz66P.99

The De-Industrialization of America (Paul Craig Roberts)

Although you would never know it from the reports from the US financial press, the poor job prospects that Americans face now rival those of India 30 years ago. American university graduates are employed, if they are employed, not as software engineers and managers but as waitresses and bartenders. They do not make enough to have an independent existence and live at home with their parents. Half of those with student loans cannot service them. Eighteen percent are either in collection or behind in their payments. Another 34% have student loans in deferment or forbearance. Clearly, education was not the answer.

John Williams of Shadowstats.com calculates the true US unemployment rate to be 23.2%, a number consistent with the collapse of the US labor force participation rate.

Why?

The article is here: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/08/11/de-industrialization-america/

The Narcissist CEO: The Light Is Not Worth The Candle

Larry Ellison towered again among the top ranks of the highest-paid CEOs in 2013 with total compensation of $78 million. He is in plentiful company. Sixty-five chief executives took home annual pay of more than $20 million last year. What prompts boards of directors to grant such astounding sums? And why would individuals, who by any objective measure have all their needs satisfied, seek such exaggerated amounts?

New research by Stanford management professor Charles A. O’Reilly shows that it is the persuasive personality and aggressive “me first” attitude embodied by narcissistic CEOs that helps them land bloated pay packages. Specifically, narcissistic CEOs are paid more than their non-narcissistic (and merely self-confident) peers. There is also a larger gap between narcissists’ compensation and that of their top management teams than is found with CEOs who do not display the trait. The longer the narcissists have held the top post, the bigger the differential, according to the study published in The Leadership Quarterly earlier this year.

Narcissism is a personality type characterized by dominance, self-confidence, a sense of entitlement, grandiosity, and low empathy. Narcissists naturally emerge as leaders because they embody prototypical leadership qualities such as energy, self-assuredness, and charisma.

“They don’t really care what other people think, and depending on the nature of the narcissist, they are impulsive and manipulative,” says O’Reilly, whose research examines grandiose narcissism, a form associated with high extraversion and low agreeableness.

Well, dear reader, cast your mind over all people that you know, both on and off the Internet---and see if you can think of anyone with these personality traits---or worse. I certainly can---and I'm sure you can too.

The article is here: http://qz.com/238854/why-narcissistic-ceos-get-paid-more-even-though-they-dont-perform-better/