Here is an article on the Baumol disease from 2010. Its a simple description of the economic virus infecting the Arts and how the rest of the public sector has followed, as I said it would on this list ten years ago. The article is OK but kind of simple with a few graphs. The most interesting thing about this article is the comments. They dont seem to have a prayer of knowing what the article is about. Strange indeed. The Wiki article on the problem under Baumol Disease, is not much better. Its so shallow as to be embarrassing. We are in deep manure here.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/12/11/americas-economic-illness-baumols-dis /#articleHeader REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 10:49 PM To: [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] Want Success in Silicon Valley? Drop Out of School http://tinyurl.com/3bys7w4 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/want-success-in-silicon-valley-drop -out-of-school/?nl=afternoonupdate <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/want-success-in-silicon-valley-dro p-out-of-school/?nl=afternoonupdate&emc=aua22> &emc=aua22 Bloomberg News Peter Thiel Parents, do you hope that your children have the chance to become like Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder, Facebook investor and hedge fund manager? If so, Mr. Thiel suggests that you encourage them to drop out of school. In fact, he will help by paying them to do it. On Wednesday, the Thiel Foundation <http://www.thielfoundation.org/index.php> 1 <https://www.readability.com/articles/9solktjl?legacy_bookmarklet=1#rdb-foot note-1> , funded by Mr. Thiel, announced the first group of Thiel Fellows <http://thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&; Itemid=19> 2 <https://www.readability.com/articles/9solktjl?legacy_bookmarklet=1#rdb-foot note-2> , 24 people under 20 who have agreed to drop out of school in exchange for a $100,000 grant and mentorship to start a tech company. More than 400 people applied. The winners include Laura Deming, 17, who is developing antiaging therapies; Faheem Zaman, 18, who is building mobile payment systems for developing countries; and John Burnham, 18, who is working on extracting minerals from asteroids and comets. The fellowship addresses two of the countrys most pressing problems, Mr. Thiel says: a bubble in higher education and a dearth of Americans developing breakthrough technologies. Much of the technological talent these days is going into Web sites and apps. Mr. Thiel says he has no problem with those Facebook has made him a billionaire <http://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-thiel> 3 <https://www.readability.com/articles/9solktjl?legacy_bookmarklet=1#rdb-foot note-3> . But theres a more urgent need for innovation in other areas, he said, like biomedical technology, nanotechnology, transportation and energy. Mr. Thiel, a contrarian investor <http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/contrarian-investor-shuns-hot-idea-f or-bigger-picture/> 4 <https://www.readability.com/articles/9solktjl?legacy_bookmarklet=1#rdb-foot note-4> and libertarian known for his controversial views, knows that suggesting that education is not always worth it strikes at the core of many Americans beliefs. But that is exactly why is he doing it. Were not saying that everybody should drop out of college, he said. The fellows agree to stop getting a formal education for two years but can always go back to school. The problem, he said, is that in our society the default assumption is that everybody has to go to college. I believe you have a bubble whenever you have something thats overvalued and intensely believed, Mr. Thiel said. In education, you have this clear price escalation without incredible improvement in the product. At the same time you have this incredible intensity of belief that this is what people have to do. In that way it seems very similar in some ways to the housing bubble and the tech bubble. In Silicon Valley, following in the footsteps of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Williams by dropping out of school might make sense. But many employers would never look at a résumé that does not list a college degree, and of course some professions require advanced degrees. As the Times reporter Catherine Rampell has written <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/economy/19grads.html> 5 <https://www.readability.com/articles/9solktjl?legacy_bookmarklet=1#rdb-foot note-5> , the job market is bad for college graduates right now but even worse for nongraduates. But Mr. Thiel said the recession had opened parents and students eyes to the problems with the belief in higher education. I think a program like this would have been unthinkable in 2007, but I think you increasingly have people who are graduating from college, not being able to get good jobs, moving back home with their parents, he said. I think theres a surprising openness to the idea that somethings gone badly wrong and needs to be fixed. Mr. Burnham, the fellow working on mineral extraction from outer space, agreed with Mr. Thiel, whom he first became aware of via the movie The Social Network. He said that college did not fit every student. What I really liked about this program is its giving a lot of people who maybe wouldnt get into Harvard an opportunity to participate in something just as selective and just as valuable and just as educational, Mr. Burnham said. Its giving them that opportunity even though their personalities and characters dont quite fit the academic mold. His father, Stephen Burnham, said the decision for his son to skip college, at least for now, was uncontroversial. Theres a lot of other stuff that you get in college and I would say that would be useful for John, he said. But I would say in four years theres a big opportunity cost there if you could be out starting your career doing something that could change the world.
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