the quest for the perfect employee

via No More Mister Nice Blog

Right now employers are looking for people who are either absolute superstars (who are probably still employed anyway), or people who will devote 120 hours a week to the job and take 40 hours' salary for it (who again, are probably already employed.)

They don't really care about anyone else. Why spend money to hire people when you don't have to? There's no reason for the private sector to do so. If only there were say, a public sector who could put people to work to stimulate the economy and increase aggregate demand...

Water Water Nowhere

Hydraulic Pressures | Foreign Affairs

Three new books about water agree that the world is facing serious water crises but have very different ideas about how to address them, especially when it comes to deciding what roles the public and private sectors have to play.

I currently reside in Georgia

Poor Greg Mankiw

Mother Jones

But aside from the fact that Mankiw plays fast and loose with the actual tax laws, this is only true if (a) you're motivated solely by how much money you leave your children, and (b) you care about income 30 years in the future as much as you do about income right now. This doesn't describe any actual human beings, and I don't think it describes Mankiw. (I doubt very much that he doubled his production of outside writing after the Bush tax cuts went into effect.) If he'd laid out the incentives honestly — a small tax increase might reduce his incentive to write misleading op-eds by a small amount — that would have been OK. But that's not what he did.

But being dishonest is so unlike a Republican.

Citizen's United

via Balloon Juice

That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt.

I dunno, I think that it is a pretty good operational definition.

Conrad Black on Carly Fiorina

National Review Online

The latest polls I have seen have them leading all of those races except California, where I think Fiorina will win because she is a more competent and presentable candidate than the incumbent, Barbara Boxer. Senator Boxer is intellectually unimpressive, and Carly Fiorina is an accomplished career woman who will gain votes from having been fired as CEO of Hewlett-Packard — a humbling experience many can identify with in these times — and from being a successful cancer patient.

John Ralston Saul has this to say about Conrad Black

He has only created one thing -- one newspaper (National Post) -- and even that he couldn't hold on to for more than three years. Apart from that, his career has been largely about stripping corporations. Destroying them. As the most visible voice for Canadian capitalism, he has had a negative effect on how most Canadians imagine the marketplace. In fact, I can't think of anyone who has had a more negative effect on how Canadians think of the market.

No wonder Lord Black likes Ms Fiorina so much.

On Job Hunting

I am currently in between contracts and so am having the joy of dealing with recruiters on a daily basis. It is a very interesting experience. Today I got to hang up on a recruiter that had obviously not read even the front page of my resume (it only has 3 pages) because he asked me several questions that were all answerable if he had done so. Lest you think I was too quick in dismissing him I asked if he had read it and he said yes. My last position was as a manager within a BI group, his explanation for not realizing that meant that I experience in leading a team was "well that is MANAGING not LEADING". There is probably a joke there...

Dumbest thing I have read today

Mangan's

There are no bad public schools, there are only bad students, and throwing money at the problem will not help.

But then again it is early