Ok. So the rumor mill has it that obese workers are treated unfairly during the hiring process and those already on the job. So what is the problem? Should obese [potential] employees get treated fairly? I mean like, such employees care little about themselves but somehow employers should care more about such workers? That just isn't the real world. Obesity on the job is not only costly to the employee i.e. health risks, job performance but also costly to the bosses that be i.e. increased group health care premiums, lost job performance, moral, etc. Sure there are the few that have valid medical conditions contributing to the weight issues but most of the time obesity points to a lack of self-control. That's simply something employers don't want to deal with. Who can blame them? The bottom line is that having weight issues is a visible sign to hiring managers that you may not be able to a) perform the required duties b) cost the company a bunch of money in health care costs. So if you really want the job [or keep the job you already have] it may be a good idea to demonstrate commitment to one’s own health first. Chances are high the boss will notice which could even lead to new opportunities given the demonstration of commitment to a rather personal challenge such as losing weight. Food for thought.

The internet has come into its own such that virtually everyone uses the internet . With that being said, would that continue to be the case if the internet transformed from open to a huge information highway with toll charges everywhere? Just the idea of toll gates [in the form of access fees for premium websites] should be troubling to everyone --- especially job seekers. If such a thing were to come to pass, which seems to worry Google's Sergey Brin, you can rest assured that online job search will change too. Job hunters have become accustomed to finding a job online without being gouged with fees; that will change. The big boards will start assessing fees to make up for the fees passed on to them for consuming massive amounts of bandwidth. On the flip side, a fee structure placed on big boards could help jobseekers since it would likely encourage those sites to clamp down on wasting bandwidth i.e. overburdening ads, excessive external content links, photos, videos, etc. Right now, no one is certain the extent of a toll based internet but one thing is sure; someone will be paying more and that cost will passed on down the chain. Believe it.

Inarguably the USA has one of the most diverse, perhaps the most diverse workforce on the planet. On the other hand, is such diversity a job creator or more so a job killer? At a first glance the answer seems an obvious - job creator. With the massive influx of ethnic groups into the USA, a great number of services are required to accommodate new comers. Jobs like foreign language teachers, culture awareness educators, and a host of other jobs are definitely required to get new comers off to a good start. On the other hand, do such jobs generally go to native-born Americans or other members of the respective ethnic group that needs newcomer services? For the most part, it seems as though Chinese new comers are aligned with other Chinese, already in the States, as service providers. So if the goal of diversity is to put a choke-hold on racism, than how is aligning service providers based on the consumer helping? In fact, isn't that a form of racism in of itself?

It is easy to see how diversity can and does create jobs initially but does that initial spike last long? Well as least some like Pat Buchanan tend to believe that this new "diversity" movement creates more problems (and kills more jobs) than it solves. Just look at how the Courts are flooded with cases related to ethnicity related issues from employment discrimination, religion discrimination, racial profiling, racial preferential treatment in the public sector with contract awards, and so on. Corporations are spending billions in settlements and verdicts on these ethnicity related issues. With that trend, it is hard to see how any jobs created by diversity would continue to be a positive trend before the trend is reversed and even passed on to innocent bystanders working for such corporations in the form of downsizing, rightsizing and flat out outsourcing. If you think find a job is already hard, how much will easier will downsizing and outsourcing make matters?

Whether or not Buchanan's assessments are correct, one thing is true. The diversity movement is getting a lot of attention. Some good; but mostly bad. As the saying goes, "bad news travels fast." For every bad incident around diversity such as major multi-million dollar lawsuits and settlements it takes 5 times as many good things about diversity to make up for the bad. So in the end it comes down to you, the people, is diversity good or bad i.e. is diversity a job creator or job killer?

The economy is still struggling. True. Everyone and the dog is ranting about jobs and hiring. True. Aah, but wait - can manufacturing provide an economic boost or is it just a drag and burden on the economy? If the numbers tell the truth, manufacturing has been a job killer for years and years. What else would you expect from a mature economy? After all, the USA already manufactures the best planes, trains, and automobiles right. When you are on top like that, there is nowhere else to go but down before going up again.

Ask GM about the up and down seesaw thingee. They know it oh too well...and guess what, it wasn't until the massive multi-billion dollar auto industry bailout under Obama until GM actually started to do silly things like...hire employees, make a profit and well manufacture quality cars again. Of course, we can, also, thank the Japanese automakers for putting pressure on the Big Three to step it up a notch. Competition is a huge incentive to efficiency in a capitalist society. No argument there but really, besides better automobiles what else is there to manufacture that isn't already being done -- and done well. Hummh, maybe trains? There is a thought. Not only would manufacturing mass transit commuter trains be a huge step in the right direction, doing so would create jobs (lots of jobs), lower energy consumption and dependency and better people’s health. Ever been to LA? Try breathing in the extremely poor air due to the ridiculously high levels of smog.

Once more, LA incidentally was slated for a mass transit bullet train connecting to San Francisco. What happened to that project? How many jobs with that create? Consider what happen if similar projects got off the ground within other metropolitan areas. So is manufacturing a boost or economic burden? Well that depends on the approach. Speaking of which, what's the plan?