Break The Class Ceiling?

“The problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.”
— A false attribution to George W. Bush
(that went viral during his presidency)

“Is there hope?” reader Kim P asks, or exclaims. “To your newest interview Miz Sachez– Back to basics! Her generation has to think so!”

Then, reader Jeff V’s quip: “The reward for Miz Sanchez’s efforts here in California for the forklift photo would be a visit from Cal OSHA for the numerous violations of forklift handling. It is sad to think,” he continues, “that is the first thing that comes to my mind when you are trying to run a small business. It has become a bureaucratic maze of frustration.”

That’s a shame isn’t it? As always, send us your thoughts right here.

The “bureaucratic maze” of policymakers and their arrogance to play judge and jury mars the reality of hard work and the effort to earn one’s keep. To use Merriam Webster’s “word of the day,” it’s the quiddity of the problem.

And it’s not just in California, it’s global, as this recent story reveals.

“A City of London diversity taskforce,” says Financial News London, “wants business leaders and regulators in the financial industry to ‘break the class ceiling’ by boosting the number of senior leaders from working-class backgrounds.”

The very idea means that the government believes in government… and fictitious capitalism. To them, the only way to create wealth and boost incomes and help people is with government programs or in this case a “task force.” It’s absurd and always has been.

Financial News continues:

The taskforce, which was commissioned by HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2020, has set a target for at least 50% of senior leaders within the financial and professional services industry to come from a working-class background by 2030.

Meanwhile: “Employers rethink need for college degrees,” reads the Wall Street Journal, “…in a tight labor market.” Fueled by the fear of a recession and said “tight labor market,” the way “employment” looks is changing. Again. People are trying to figure out how to fend for themselves.

The future of work… or glorified unemployment? (Source: Microsoft)

As we pointed out yesterday, Miz Sanchez has a thing or two to say about escaping the bureaucratic maze and reclaiming one’s own cash flows in this week’s Session. You can watch it here. It’s called: Contrarian Cash Flows & Unconventional Acquisitions.

“At the heart of the next recession,” writes Bloomberg, “there’s a job-market riddle.” We already know the Fed’s Catch-22, but to reiterate: in trying to stamp out inflation, they’ve gotta stomp on consumer demand. That dampens corporate earnings, and in turn slows the job market. That’s the plan. Bloomberg continues:

This time around, workers have a better-than-usual shot at holding onto their jobs if recession arrives. White-collar industries including business services, tech, banking, real estate, where staffing numbers are far above pre-Covid levels and layoffs have already begun, may be more vulnerable to job cuts.

That’s why the “once arcane job openings survey” has become the “darling” of the Fed’s eye, according to Reuters. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today at 10am reads:

The number of job openings edged down to 10.3 million on the last business day of October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the month the number of hires and total separations changed little at 6.0 million and 5.7 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.0 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.4 million) changed little.

What a perverse idea. Are we really rooting for a slowdown in the jobs market? The thesis of the BLS survey of the jobs market is, well, uncertainty. In other words, it’s moot. Pensive. Waiting.

There’s a “two-way risk in the market right now,” reads another comment from CNBC. So we wait, what, with bated breath for a Santa Claus Rally?

In the meantime, the way to “break the class ceiling” is for politicians, bureaucrats, unions, The Fed, lawyers, accountants and other wealth stealers to get out of the way and let people work. Given the opportunity to be entrepreneurs, Miz Sanchez would say, most people will take it.

Alas, this isn’t the first (or last) time we have written these words.

P.S. James Bullard, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis remains hawkish, citing the “Taylor Rule” and a “sufficiently restrictive zone” as his information. The Taylor Rule is a formula tying a central bank’s policy rate to inflation and economic growth. Simply put, Bullard thinks that the Fed has a ways to go before cutting inflation off at the head. See below:

(Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)