The Youth Unemployment Crisis

The Youth Unemployment Crisis: A Fix that Works and Pays for Itself

Economist Bob Lerman proposes a solution to the youth unemployment crisis in the United States. Lerman argues the quickest way to getting unemployed kids off the streets and onto the payroll is through work apprenticeships.

Robert Lerman: What if I told you that a U.S. public-private initiative could reduce youth unemployment, improve the transition from school-to-careers, upgrade skills, raise wages of young adults, strengthen a young worker's identity, increase U.S. productivity, achieve positive returns for employers and workers, and reduce government spending?

After you asked me what I've been smoking, you might think it another pie-in-the-sky scheme put forward by some airhead academic. In fact, the initiative I have in mind is feasible to implement. It addresses what may be the most pressing labor market issue at the moment, and in the coming years: no good jobs for young people. Most important, it has been well-tested and it demonstrably works.

So what is it? To expand apprenticeship training, expand it significantly enough to become a viable alternative for most young people and a common method of recruitment and training by employers.

As a university professor and policy practitioner, I have studied apprenticeship programs for years. They train people by combining work-based learning with classroom instruction in a unified program that leads to a recognized and valued occupational credential.

Young people, especially guys, who hate sitting through classes all day can spend part of their time making something and learning by doing.

Continue at:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/02/the-youth-unemployment-crisis.html

John E. Karlin, Who Led the Way to All-Digit Dialing, Dies at 94

By MARGALIT FOX

Published: February 8, 2013

(H)is research, along with that of his subordinates, quietly yet emphatically defined the experience of using the telephone in the mid-20th century and afterward, from ushering in all-digit dialing to casting the shape of the keypad on touch-tone phones. And that keypad, in turn, would inform the design of a spate of other everyday objects.

It is not so much that Mr. Karlin trained midcentury Americans how to use the telephone. It is, rather, that by studying the psychological capabilities and limitations of ordinary people, he trained the telephone, then a rapidly proliferating but still fairly novel technology, to assume optimal form for use by midcentury Americans.

“He was the one who introduced the notion that behavioral sciences could answer some questions about telephone design,” Ed Israelski, an engineer who worked under Mr. Karlin at Bell Labs in the 1970s, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Continue at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/business/john-e-karlin-who-led-the-way-to-all-digit-dialing-dies-at-94.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Who Decided U.S. Megabanks Are Too Big to Jail?

By Simon Johnson

Feb 3, 2013


It’s official. The Justice Department said it loud and clear: No megabank will ever face meaningful prosecution.

America’s past was dramatic and not always glorious. Our present is sordid. Financial shenanigans damaged the economy, and now a handful of powerful executives and their companies have received get-out-of-jail-free cards.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, the head of the criminal division at the Justice Department and the man responsible for determining whether anyone should be prosecuted for the financial crisis of 2008, stated plainly that some financial institutions are too large and too complex to be held accountable before the law. Bipartisan pressure is now being applied on the Justice Department to reveal exactly how this determination was made. Breuer, however, has announced he will leave government March 1. Good luck unraveling the cover-up that must already be in place.

Breuer made the comments for a documentary aired by the PBS program “Frontline.” The investigative report, titled “The Untouchables,” asked why no senior Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for apparently well-documented illegal acts, such as authorizing document forging, misleading investors and obstructing justice. Breuer was shockingly candid.

Above excerpts from:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-03/who-decided-u-s-megabanks-are-too-big-to-jail-.html

GBCA Quarterly Meeting Notice

Please note the meeting was changed

 to Monday to accommodate the candidates.

http://greaterburgesscommunity.org

Reward Offered

Notice From The Greater Burgess Community Association:

Over the weekend twelve mature crepe myrtle trees were destroyed by a vehicle on Tournament Blvd. It is not clear yet if this was a result of vandalism or a DUI but the loss in any event is the same.

Although Tournament Blvd. is a county road it was constructed by the Master Developer of Prince Creek as condition of granting approval from Horry County. It is maintained by  The Highway 17 Connector Maintenance Association funded by special assessments paid by developers and land owners that front or are served by Tournament Blvd. This association is a non-profit corporation that provides for landscaping and maintenance of the adjoining shoulder, common signage, lighting, sidewalks and the removal of trash and debris. The replacement cost is estimated at about $4,000.

A reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this matter. Contact Barbara Raven at Waccamaw Management at BarbaraR@waccamawmanagement.com.

http://greaterburgesscommunity.org

Highway 707 and Holmestown Road Overlay Zones

Since October a group of fifteen citizens have been working with Planning Department Staff to review ideas and develop recommendations to update the Overlay Zones for Highway 707 and Holmestown Road to assure they reflect current community standards. This task was one of the highest priority strategies included in The Burgess Community Area Plan adopted by Horry County Council in 2012. This group included people that worked on the original Overlay about 11 years ago along with more recent residents and some businesses.

The Overlay Zones are established to provide standards relative to accessibility, appearance and safety in the development of commercial, industrial, multi-family residential, major residential subdivisions and office projects. Single family lots not included in a major subdivision are exempt from these regulations.

Continue reading at:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B10VwSzm1ReGME1tWF81amVuWG8/edit?pli=1

Experian credit monitoring enrollment deadline extended

Taxpayers now have until March 31, 2013 to sign up for protection and unlimited fraud resolution

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina taxpayers affected by the information security data breach at the South Carolina Department of Revenue now have until March 31, 2013, to sign up for a year of free credit monitoring and unlimited fraud resolution provided by Experian. The deadline to sign up for monitoring and fraud resolution had been January 31, 2013.

Governor Nikki Haley reiterated that anyone who has filed a South Carolina tax return since 1998 should take the following steps:

-     Call 1-866-578-5422 to enroll in a consumer protection service. (The call center is open 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM EST on Monday through Friday and 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM EST on Saturday and Sunday.)

-      For any South Carolina taxpayer who wishes to bypass the telephone option, there currently is an online service available at http://www.protectmyid.com/scdor. Enter the code SCDOR123 when prompted.