Juggling Dynamite

Danielle was a guest with Kerry Lutz on The Financial Survival Network talking about recent developments in the world markets and economy.  You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here.

This is not an anti-capitalist argument or about some people taking on more risk and earning appropriately more for their efforts.  This is the opposite: where an extortion culture has flourished through publicly traded corporations over the past 30 years, all while personal accountability has fallen in lockstep. These unsustainable trends need to mean revert significantly before more stable social and economic systems can evolve.   As Henry Ford and many others have proven repeatedly, sharing the wealth with workers is critical to expanding a positive multiplier effect.  As is paying women equal pay for equal work, which a new report suggests would add trillions to the presently moribund world economy.  See:  Could gender equality boost global GDP by trillions?

The below chart shows what people in various countries surveyed expressed as a reasonable CEO-to-worker pay ratio in their opinion.  This “ideal” and then the “actual” current ratio in each country is shown beside, as well as the actual average pay for CEO’s and workers in that country. The last column shows what average workers would earn if the ‘ideal’ ratio in each country was maintained relative to the existing CEO pay levels.  Obviously these ‘ideal’ worker salaries are outrageous and therefore effectively reveal how heinously inflated CEO pay is today.

Watch this video report from Harvard Business Rreview: CEOs get paid too much

At last the penny has dropped on the overwhelming case for electric engines worldwide. It’s unbelievable how long it has taken the mainstream to recognize this. See: Aston Martin seeks ‘beauty and soul’ in all electric sports car.

“Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., the 102 year-old maker of high-performance cars featured in the next James Bond film, is envisioning a future when its engines are fueled by electricity instead of gasoline.

The British company is working on a battery-powered version of its current Rapide sports car that will be available as early as at the end of 2017 followed by a new electric DBX crossover, said Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer. The cars will uphold the carmaker’s traditions by embodying “power, beauty and soul” in each vehicle, said Palmer, a 35-year veteran of the industry who has led Aston Martin for about a year.”

We were in New York City the past few days, nowhere is the case for emission-free engines more glaringly obvious than in congested cities. Every fancy car driving around Central Park still sporting a combustion engine might as well bore ‘dinosaur’ on the license plate. No matter how impressive the outward shell, eventually ICE (internal combustion engines) vehicles will be viewed as antiquated embarrassments.  Electric engines will be under the hoods of all makes and models from all different manufacturers, all over the world.  The race is on to see who will lead and who will be left in the dust.  Literally.

Meanwhile the adjustment away from fossil fuels will continue to be painful for the unprepared:  Oilsands boom dries up in Alberta, taking thousands of jobs with it.