Farms and Non-farms

Item in the WSJ today (pushed to me by e-mail, btw):


WSJ NEWS ALERT: Nonfarm Payrolls Surge by 180,000 in March; Jobless Rate Falls

"U.S. payrolls surged by 180,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, increasing the chance of consumer-driven ecomnomic growth and lowering the likelihood of any near-term cut in interest rates. Outside of manufacturing, payroll gains were broadly based, with construction and services posting healthy increases. Previous months' employment increases, meanwhile, were revised up."


This is a number to watch - at conference for trade show CEOs I attended last month an economist with an impressive 20-year track record compared leading indicators and this one - along with availablity of credit - is one of the most relaible for projecting the strength of the economy over the next 6 months - a forward indicator

So, the economy looks good for next 6 months! (But, couldn't we kinda feel that anyway?)


Snarky comment:

Now....aren't virtually all payrolls "nonfarm" these days? If non-farm is meant to remove seasonality I wonder if they also remove "non-retail" in December, when temp payrolls surge.

Farms.

Snort.

The Process of Mulling

I like to mull things over. There are the urgent things which must be done right away or "today." Or this week, at least. Then there are The Important. These are things that are really important (hence the name) but since they are not urgent, they often never get done. When they do get done, typically you have to sweep all the urgent things off the desk and go into a cone of silence to focus on the Important Task. On my Important list is learning how to make cooler powerpoint presentations - has been for years.

There is another even more important category of things to do and these I call Background Tasks and I mull them over. These are things like what next market to attack, or, should we renew our lease, or should I commit to playing the guitar again. Broadly, this is a category of directional impulses and things I might want to do later (thus moving onto a list) or...might not. I'm mulling them over.

The process of mental cud-chewing is greatly aided by reading print magazines and newspapers. They expose me to things that are not urgent, and maybe not even important - YET.

This morning I was reading Inc. Magazine and read an article on expanding globally - what to do and what not to do when opening a global office. I ripped it out and brought it to work and put it in a file. We have no intention of opening offices overseas today and have barely discussed it. BUT someday we may. And if so I will go find that article.

Now, Joel Sposky would say that when deciding to open an office in Bangalore I can just google for info at that point. And I am sure I would. BUT, what reading that article gave me was an idea - the article told of 6 different ways to open an office internationally - maybe it's not that hard after all....something to think about....to mull.

I would never ever have gotten this idea from the Internet. Never ever. I wouldn't look for it. So, I wouldn't find it. Internet is for "search. Print is for "find"

All us old-timers are realizing the discovery-power of print and are talking about it. I wonder when the younger generation will figure that out?

Why Print Matters - NY Times Coverage of "Democrat" win

Check out the the "above the fold" half of the NY Times yesterday and you'll see something you'll never get from the Internet - nor should you expect to. It's a "picture" in words, type size and photo of what happened yesterday and what it means. Look at the carefully chosen, examined, edited and finally selected-for-press WORDS. Look at the subheads. Each word has been CRAFTED in terms of selection, emphasis, placement, meaning, position etc to convey a statement - to convey meaning. Even WHICH stories are here, above the fold make a statement of emphasis. "Democrats Turn War Into an Ally" - Beautiful.

It's synthesis, selection, prioritization, distillation. It's meaning.

This is not the purpose nor the ability of the Internet. The Internet is the world's greatest directory. If you know what you want...you can search and find it. Unless you want insight and interpretation. Unless you think there just may be some value in "discovering" something you didn't know you were looking for....

As for news, the Internet has to be constantly updating itself - that's what it's for and there is value there. Instead of interpretation we get blurt-ation. The facts unfold more quickly than anywhere unless you want to stay glued to the tube as they follow OJ's white bronco. The Internet news sites are not going to leave the important stories "in place" like the printed Times above becuase the Internet is about the now. The next story comes in and * poof * the other sotries fade real quick (unless you know what you want and use a search engine)

But that constant updating does not give us persepective. It's all served up with equal gravitas - no BIG HEADLINE. No stand-back and take-it-all-in understanding. Sure there are columns and blogs and words on The Internet. But a search engine is not an editor. The Internet is not for browsing, for discovery, for insight and understanding.

Harrumph.