aew360
@aew360@lemm.ee
- Comment on US concerned NASA will be overtaken by China's space program 8 months ago:
This is a good thing. Competition with the USSR made NASA what it is.
- Comment on It’s a dark time to be a tech worker right now 8 months ago:
Startups need a lot of capital flowing in because they don’t turn a profit early on. Traditional smaller businesses usually don’t have this sort of funding because the reward is lower. With tech, there’s a strong chance that company could become public or could get bought out. Or it could stay private and eventually become profitable. Regardless, they need investments made so they can continue to operate to eventually deliver a valuable product that will possibly offer significant returns to the investors.
The pandemic happened, which led to several outcomes. For one, a lot of boomers retired. Boomers were earning a lot of money. Then they stopped earning money and started dipping into their savings. This had a strong reaction. Capital became more scarce. Don’t believe me? Look at what banks are paying for 12-month CDs and the interest rates in savings accounts. It’s insanely high compared to two or three years ago.
This trend likely won’t last forever. Gen Xers and millennials have been moving into vacated roles by the boomers and are now earning more than before. They’re able to generate excess capital that investors can use to fund startups. There’s no shortage of innovative ideas in the western world, but there is a shortage of capital.
Not every county in the west is going to recover the same way. The boomer generation is the largest generation in history. Not every country kept having kids at a relatively similar pace. Typically, developing countries have much higher population growth. As countries industrialize, we see certain trends like both men and women joining the workforce and people moving to the cities for work. People generally have fewer kids with these trends as they are more focused on their careers and have less room to raise them. Nobody wants to raise a child in a one-bed apartment!
The United States is one of the rare exceptions. With a trend of consistent domestic population growth and immigration, the U.S. has avoided the fallout from rapid industrialization. Because of that, we’re seeing some interesting trends:
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Under Biden, the post-pandemic POTUS, the U.S. has entered a prolonged period of rapid onshoring of manufacturing jobs. The addition of factories, distribution centers, and more have been increasing exponentially.
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Germany, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and other similar economies have seen the impacts of a shrinking younger population and a ballooning senior population. These nations will likely keep the design of their products onshore, but will send manufacturing offshore. The U.S. and Mexico are the biggest winners here, but Mexico is at a disadvantage compared to the U.S. due to a greater difficultly in maintaining infrastructure.
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Emerging technologies make the production of goods in the U.S. more feasible. Advancements in AI, robotics, and renewable energy will make production in the U.S. more logical despite the higher wages its workers command because less workers will be needed, or other savings in the realm of security, stability, and access to transportation infrastructure offset that factor.
There will not only be excess capital generation in the U.S., but there will also be excess capital flowing into the U.S. It’s also not to say that tech jobs will never recover outside of the U.S., but the reality is that we are in a capital shortage for a specific, acute reason. Less people of working age able to not only fill the vacated roles left by boomers, but also difficultly in paying the pensions and benefits offered to retirees. This will dry up even more capital in those particular nations.
Tech jobs have always been finicky. That won’t change going forward. But if you’re in the U.S., there’s a strong chance you’ll see things bounce back quicker than they will in other countries.
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- Comment on Bluesky and Mastodon users are having a fight that could shape the next generation of social media 9 months ago:
Mastodon logo looks like a happy comma
- Comment on Russian forces now using Musk’s Starlink on Ukraine front line 9 months ago:
I would love to see Biden nationalize Starlink.
- Comment on My pick is Rubberband Man by the Spinners. 9 months ago:
The only correct option here.
- Comment on Hogwarts Legacy has officially cleared Zelda as 2023's best-selling game worldwide 9 months ago:
The game has a minor character who is trans too. It uses the world she invented but does not borrow her real world views
- Comment on Against The Storm v1.1 update is out, improving early game variety and bringing a lot of QoL features 10 months ago:
This is one of those games where I start playing and then it’s dark outside and I’m dehydrated. 10/10 would recommend
- Comment on Baldur's Gate 3 has won Steam's 2023 GOTY Award 10 months ago:
I didn’t think I would enjoy Hogwartz Legacy as much I have. I’m not sure what I was expecting but being a demigod who just absolutely wrecks anything in my path with pure violence wasn’t it