Detroit to Cut 1,000 Jobs Amid Budget Crisis

Detroit plans on cutting 1,000 by February 25, 2012 to help deal with the city's budget crisis. The cuts represent nine percent of the city's approximate 11,000 employees. It should save the city $12 million. Mayor Dave Bing said that solving the crisis will require a combination of concessions and tough cuts that will require everyone to share in the sacrifice. The city faces a $45 million cash shortfall by the end of its fiscal year in June. Mayor Bing is also asking for municipal union reforms to save $40 million. He also ordered an immediate hiring freeze for all civil service positions. for further reading: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577046161079749528.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

Generation Jobless

The following link give some very interesting and depressing statistics on Generation Jobless. It illustrates the trends of the challenges that young people face in today's job market. With unemployment remaining high, many young adults are moving back in with their parents to save on expenses, rejecting Ivy-League schools for less expensive state universities, and choosing liberal-arts majors even though science and engineering majors are in higher demand. It gives statistics on highest and lowest earning majors, education costs, unemployment rates, adults living with parents, and college statistics. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/11/11/gen-jobless-by-the-numbers/

Global pessimism effects us all

Pessimism can change the way people deal with their money in a big way. An article in the USA Today described the feelings people had about the European mishaps in the market. It was the reason the S&P 500 dropped nearly 2%. Our economy is so international that anything happening around the world can effect the way investors and stockholders feel.

The commodities market and the technology market were the ones effected most. I hope that at some point people become as confident as they were a few years ago in order to get Michigan and the rest of the struggling states out of this nearly 10-year rut.

Technological Renovation

Holyoke, Massachusetts signed a contract with Cisco to turn the city for the good. This is going to be done through a grant given. This city has about 12% unemployment, and has trouble attracting people (doesn't it sound like Kalamazoo?) It used to be a big mill town but died out along with the mills. The contract was signed in February. We should all keep an eye and see how much technology could revive a city.

www.fastcompany.com/1546430/cisco-plans-to-make-a-massachusetts-city-smarter-rather-than-build-one-from-scratch

whats next?

this class has presented us with many of the challenges we face today and will have to face in the future. the current decisions being made by local governments are often heartbreaking and seem brutal. but what has been shown is that often these horrible changes are needed if cities wish to remain a float. what are we whiling to give up and what will need to change?  it is clear that we will need to address these questions and soon... i only hope that our futures, those of my generation, wont be to stunted.

but i do believe there is hope, like Paul Romer said "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. hopefully we can learn from the past and use this crisis to rebuild a better America. 

Sim City

Today activity shed some light on how you would like things to work out perfectly but chances are they won't. My group had a plan to divide the budget to certain aspects of our city but as population rises and lowers, unexpected things happen and more supplies is needed or you don't calculate right, your budget can get a lot smaller pretty quick. That was a good way to end the quarter as ew got to try and figure out where our major source of money would come from and how to make everyone happy.

Did you know?

Here's a video that gives a little insight into the future. Technology can be a pretty scary thing. Although this video was made a few years ago, I believe that it still sends a pretty relevant message.

Viewer Discretion is Advised


http://youtu.be/Mmz5qYbKsvM