Women Pay Levels

Women pay levels have been the subject of controversy for some time. There is no doubt they had been discriminated against in the past. The question is whether they still are, when anti-discrimination laws have been around for decades and penalties are severe.

True, women still tend to earn less. But there can be valid reasons. Because many women do leave jobs in mid-career for maternity reasons and that distorts statistical averages. Others prefer to spend more time with family.

Still, there are more variations in certain professions than others which makes this not the sole explanation for income variation. Hostile environment may often be possible. The discrepancy varies by profession.

Women’s needs may vary within those jobs, especially where measures of hostility may actually exist.

Defaulting on College-Acquired Debt

Defaulting on college-induced debt can be a dilemma. You will have to get a grip on the type of debt, whether federal or private, and its terms. I suggest you contact the National Student Loan Data System, at www.nslds.ed.gov.

There may be some forgiveness programs for government workers and teachers, along with AmeriCorp volunteers and similar programs.

As a precaution, avoid heavy student loans. Do not go much further into debt than you may already have.

Tuition, room and board charges that total $100,000 and more in many instances can be an enormous impediment for any student or for parents. For those with several children to put through school, it can be the major obstacle for a comfortable retirement.

College Grade Inflation

Inflated college marks are now the norm. At the College of the City of New York during World War II, students were admitted only if they had the highest grades in local schools.

If they were getting deferments because they were science and engineering majors, they had many of their classes marked on a “curve.” This was comparable to having to make the cut in PGA professional golf. The lowest 10% to 15% of each class flunked, no matter what mark they got. Classmates competed against each other

In the toughest college in the city, perhaps the U. S., open only to the top high school graduates, a student with one class "failure" immediately lost that army deferment. Compare that to the Ivy League standards of today!

If truth be told, students go to Ivy League schools because of the aura about them, and the contacts they afford. The vaunted Ivies are not tough once you are admitted. If anything, they are overrated.

Regaining Recession-Lost Jobs

It will take years for lost jobs to come back. In fact, many may never be available once more. Our only solution will be to produce new types.

Small business, which accounts for more than half of our work force, is a solution to the employment question. Unfortunately, most bureaucrats and influential politicians in Washington, are not attuned to their interests. The heavy lobbying and influence comes from big business and labor unions.

You can be sure: Ever-higher minimum wages, taxes and insurance costs are the poison that guarantee that small business will not be able to fulfill its conventional role of creating new jobs.

Unless Washington’s political elite relent..

The Definition of a Good Manager

Good managers as far up in rank as CEOs, are hard to evaluate. It’s not as easy as evaluating an athlete who wins or loses events, or has measurable statistics. I know that the sports media have experts who make lots of senseless noise, comparable to locker room or bar room chatter.

While business sales can be measured, as well as profit and loss, it’s not that simple to evaluate executives who may not be responsible for the bottom line after all.

I have always said a good executive may still lose money for his or her company. But less than a poor manager or executive would have lost under similar conditions. Thus more arcane yardsticks must be employed, depending on the type of business.

Moreover, what incentives do you give to get results? What is good pay? Or options? Do more and more money inducements really make a difference?

The definition of a good manager is difficult when the evaluation is equally hard to make. On-the-job experience may accomplish it, not text book explanations and suggestions.

Centralized and Decentralized Business Management Styles

Companies can be top-managed in two ways. The public is not generally conversant with the difference.

In short, there are two different types of CEOS for two different styles.

Very strongly, or centralized, where the CEO is in complete control of the company’s daily operations. Many executives prefer this approach. I ran a highly successful 74-office employee-contracting firm using this management principle. Those offices operated in a myriad of industries.

Or, loosely and decentralized, where more local control is allowed. Warren Buffett operates his different companies within varying industries on a decentralized basis. His individual companies perform without much strict daily direction.

I prefer centralized, hands-on oversight, which I believe is better from the operational standpoint. On the other hand, if your goals are primarily that of an investor, you never have the time, nor perhaps the ability or inclination, to cope with daily administrative duties.

Cap and Trade

Cap and Trade legislation appears to be at doomed in Congress but left-leaning politicians never give up trying. Those who still believe in global warming science as being unpolluted, are still its religionists.

Added to entrenched-religion environmentalists are practical leftists who realize that Cap and Trade is an instrument for enforcing control and taxation on the population without designating the effort for what it truly is.

The main problem is the economic damage that will be imposed, though the vast majority of Americans do not want Cap and Trade.

However, the government is enacting many of these actions without the approval of the electorate, by stealth. It’s weapon? The almost unrestricted use of Environmental Protection Agency dictats.