Sony: All That's Wrong WIth the Economy

Sony released a patch last week to update its firmware to version 3.21. Normally a firmware update is supposed to fix bugs or add new features.

Sony, in a fit of completely unexcusable, unprofessional, lazy, and profoundly typical corporate behavior, removed the ability of the PS3 to run other operating systems. The PS3 was bought because I lack the funds to appropriate both a gaming system, multimedia system, and a home computer. Now they've crippled all three, as not using the update to cripple just one feature cripples your ability to install updates to any games you buy or Blu-Ray firmware updates.

Their excuse (legitimacy has been questioned) is that someone found a security vulnerability using the Other OS menu item. Instead of patching it up so that it can't happen again, they opt to remove the feature entirely. Now I can't do classwork for college. Even Microsoft knows better, and they made Windows 95.

Why Nobody Is Hiring

My last job ended on the notion that, being a skilled web developer, I would have no problem finding work in a better company, a company that would be more willing to pay me what I was told by them I deserved. I disagreed, pointing out that I had actually looked for several months for a business that would accept the skills of a web developer with no formal training and no college experience. Despite my protest, this idiocy and possibly his own personal motivation (bosses don't like it when people point out how they're completely incompetent after going to college on a subject), drowned out the facts. They wanted me gone, not for my betterment, but because their company was going downhill for mistakes they made, and it showed. There is a reason that the only two people left from when I was working there are the bosses. Everyone jumped ship because they just knew that moron was ruining "his" company.

At any rate, here's my hypotheses on why companies aren't hiring:

The Economy Sucks

A lot of smaller to medium scale businesses genuinely can't afford to take on the extra workers, but this is a rare group in all of the companies that don't hire. They spend their money where it should be going, but it's not enough. There's not enough revenue coming in to justify hiring new staff, and they tend to be victims of the problems caused by the other businesses who won't hire but can. Those businesses will be addressed below.

Excess for Me, Poverty for You

The fat cats at the top of the company frequently manage to get caught with their hand in the cookie jar, knowing their company is in financial trouble. No matter how many lives they have to destroy, the number is never enough as long as they can enjoy excess. Remember the bailouts from nearly a year ago? Remember when AIG executives went on that trip to that nice resort, while their hard-working employees had to put their offices in a box? What a great way to show how grateful you are for all that effort they put forward so you could afford the trip.

Reminds me of my last job in several ways. The guys at the top got to enjoy a "business trip" to Disney World while the office wasn't allowed to keep styrofoam cups in stock. One was able to buy himself a boat, while the other was able to buy himself a new home in an upscale neighborhood and immediately begin remodeling it. If you heard the meetings, you would never guess that anybody in the staff could get by with doing that. When hiring a new graphics designer for printed marketing, they said their ideal candidate was a "young college student" who lived at home, because a college student "has no responsibilities." Those exact words were used, and it was clear to me from those choice words they were looking for someone to do the job for a couple bucks above minimum wage. Someone without the experience to know when they're being paid less than someone with equal skill would be paid elsewhere. Kind of like myself.

Collective Stupidity

The other reason companies don't seem to be hiring is that they are economically incompetent. It doesn't matter how long they've been in business or the degree of success they've had. When they notice declining numbers in their sales, their workforce also begins to decline. One or two companies suffering this problem would not be so bad, but almost every business is doing this at the same time. I will demonstrate why this is an economically stupid practice.

Know what happens when someone loses a job? They have less money to spend. Know what happens when someone has less money to spend? They buy less stuff. Know what happens when someone buys less stuff? A company has decreased income. Know what happens when a company loses income? An employee loses their job.

Multiply this by 5 million and that's how the past year has gone.

As long as you morons are firing people and laying people off for trivial issues (or as is legal in my state, for no reason whatsoever), you are making the economy worse. You have to spend money to make money. Now there is little just one company can do, since I'm fairly certain that people who work at Burger King aren't going to be eating most of their food from Burger King, so the whole lot of you are going to have to work something out.

Fixing It... I Think

I am a libertarian, so I believe that, for the most part, business should be left alone by the oft-incompetent government, but I also believe that you should earn what you deserve based on effort and that your right to do whatever you want is only bound by another's right to do what they want. Taking oodles of cash for yourself while your company is drowning and offices are clearing out is a violation of my principles in that you are ruining people's lives.

I know this is going to sound like a socialist idea, but we're going to have to get the big-headed idiots running the companies to take a pay cut. Let's be honest here: Do you really deserve that kind of money if your company is suffering? You're going to have to take a pay cut, and probably reinvest a few million from your own pocket back into your business. Just one of you doing it may not be enough, so this country needs at least a few companies to get the ball rolling. Exercise some humility for once in your life. Hell, it might even make you more popular to and respected to potential customers and clients.

Social & Economic Effects of College

I'm not going to college, and may never get the chance, but even then this is something that affects me at the most crucial levels. Note that I don't really have any specific data or sources to back my claims, purely observation. You could consider this original, pending research.

The first issue that I will address is the economic impact of college. The first thing we'll establish here is that there are "career" jobs, and "job" jobs. "Job" jobs tend to be simple, mundane tasks that require little training, but still may be none too easy. Such work includes production at factories, working cash registers, and even the stereotypical burger-flipping. "Career" jobs tend to take more training and more in-depth knowledge, often not being as repetitive. This would include being a surgeon, a financial guru, a scientist, or a software developer.

The common misconception is that a "career" job absolutely requires a college degree. It implies that you have taken an extended period of your life out to dedicate toward that degree, seeking counsel and guidance from people who have a lot of information and wisdom to give on the subject. But what if you don't need school to motivate you? Just think about where we are now. We've had periods for harvest technology, periods for weapon technology, periods for industrial technology, and now we're in the age of information technology. For some areas of academia, study in the classroom may not be necessary.

I will use myself as an example. I've never taken a single class on any form of programming. I only have raw experience in the field of web development. I know XHTML and CSS, with an ever-improving knowledge and understanding of Javascript, PHP, and even SVG. I could almost say that the only limit to my design abilities is my imagination and taste for design... well, the inherent problems with XHTML/CSS are also a roadblock. I have compared my work to that of college-educated web developers and designers and have found that my coding abilities could be compared to theirs. Sometimes mine is even superior.

But because I don't have a college degree, I will probably never get another job in this "career" field until I do. I will have to settle with minimum-wage, ungratifying "job" jobs. I am particularly trained to computer use, it is the area where I am most efficient. This means that people who are in the same boat as myself are being forced into jobs where their efficiency is not maximized, meaning that companies who do hire us are creating unhappy, demoralized employees with a limited "life expectancy" in the workplace. Companies that do hire degrees with limited experience and understanding are blowing their money on entitled professionals who have yet to develop an efficient and effective workflow.

As well, there is a growing problem with consumerism caused by the mentality of prolonged school life. More college students are graduating with great amassed debt. It isn't the loans, it's the stuff. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that there is a vanity issue with students. Starting around middle school, kids become obsessed with brand names, and it continues through the rest of school. Being on the outside now I realize that people don't care about brands in Real Life™. Cost efficiency is one of the key parts of thriving in this world, and when your life is paved ahead for a while and you have no financial pressure, it remains to be the same non-issue to you that you felt it was living with your parents through high school. All this results in a lack of experience with fiscal responsibility.

The social effects are not quite as sinister but lead to bitterness and cynicism that shouldn't be in the workplace. College graduates come out of school with a sense of entitlement, and for some this is justifiable. For most this is purely for the sake of milking the system. When you come out with a degree as one of those in the latter grouping, you have no motivation or incentive to put effort into making the income usually attributed to a college graduate. You expect it to be given to you simply because you invested the time, and sometimes the money, just to make a six-figure income. As a result you may fall behind on the skills you learned.

Those who pick up on these skills without going to school to learn them are given a hard time about finding jobs in these areas, though they might know just as much and may even have a portfolio to demonstrate it. It is insulting and discouraging to these people to see that the people who are preferred by the market put out mediocre work. Requiring degrees in areas where college is not required to learn a skill is nothing short of financial class separation. This is not the American way. The American way is supposed to dissolve such borders. Millions come to the United States expecting to prosper. How can they expect to prosper with such a clear restriction based on financial status?

Starcraft Sucks

I've been trying to get back into Starcraft and realized why I stopped playing - it's impossible to get any good at it when you can't play it for ten hours a day. The AI cheats, and it's been officially stated by Blizzard staff to do so.

It can see the entire map from the very start, knowing what units you're building and where every resource is, though the player cannot do this. In other words, if you're someone who seeks to enjoy a game without cheating (like myself), don't feel bad about plugging in "black sheep wall."

Normally you can only build structures when you have the necessary minerals/gas to do so. AI camps don't have this limitation as buildings can be thrown up without expending any minerals/gas. Their progress in construction as well as unit production is also at least 25% faster than they would be if being built and used by a human player.

One of the main gameplay requirements is that you build enough supply storage for your units. If you don't have enough supplies, you can't build over a certain number of troops. AI players don't have this limitation, either, as they can build however many they want. Combine this with the previous point and it answers why they can rush so quickly.

Then there are issues that are inherent in the game simply because you're dealing with an AI. A human player usually has to select units to direct them, and can only select twelve units at a time. The AI does not have this limitation, and it can pull from as many areas in the map as it wants. It doesn't have a view like the player does, move a cursor around like the player does, or even push buttons like the player does.

It can move an army of 100 from three different camps at the exact same time. That's about 33 units per camp, which would require about three selections per camp, each selection normally taking two to three seconds to direct it to where you want them to go. This means moving that many units would require at least 20-30 seconds of a human player's time, yet an AI can do it all instantaneously.

Blizzard failed miserably at creating a balanced game. What the single player games create is a polar divide between players - players who are no good and won't be good, and those who can crush anything. I know a fanboy is going to tell me "Well you're just not good at it!" You're right, I'm not, but that's because I can't invest hour upon hour into it, and I have no patience for a game that cheats the player outright.