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Thread: The Internet and Jobs

  1. #26

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
    The standard of living today is easily 10x greater than the 50's and 60's.

    I could go on and on.
    My parents got their first color TV in 1964. The Mrs and I have 6 and 2 are 4k. Things are definitely better today.

  2. #27

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    I agree with every aspect of what Pete has written about our standards of living - and generally life itself - being exponentially higher today than in generations past. And I don't doubt that technology has indeed added more jobs than it has taken away.

    I will say that the ongoing loss of local institutions in favor of larger and larger national and international organizations hurts a mid-size city like Oklahoma City on the margins. People will get goods and services cheaper, but having fewer decision makers in a community is a negative.

  3. #28

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    ^

    That's a very big intangible that cannot be quantified in any meaningful way.

    OKC is way bigger than it was in the '60s and by all accounts, way more prosperous. Plus, we have a major league team that was made possible directly due to large companies investing, so I would argue the central point.

    It's a dangerous game to pick out what some would identify as a negative without considering the broader context (like more women working as was stated up-thread).


    Not trying to be argumentative, just providing perspective.

  4. #29

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    Pete, as always I appreciate your perspective.

    No doubt OKC is way bigger and more prosperous than ever before. And the Thunder is actually a perfect example of my point. We got that team because we had large hometown companies that were invested in our city. Imagine a world where Devon and Chesapeake had been bought by Exxon and BP (or whomever makes sense in that analogy) prior to the Sonics becoming available. Imagine if Mid First had been bought by Bank of America. I think it would have been less likely that the team would be here. It was almost an accident of timing that we got them. Of course now the city is large enough to support them anyway, but I think we needed those companies 10 years ago, and I'm glad we had them.

    I haven't lived in OKC for 25 years. So I use St. Louis as an example because it is going through this phenomenon. Inbev bought Anheuser-Busch and even though the employment is at the same number and wages may be the same, the decision makers are elsewhere. There's much less corporate philanthropy than before. They aren't using local marketing firms, they aren't using local accounting firms, they aren't using local law firms.

    May Company, which owned Famous Barr, Foley's and others was based here. They had a huge downtown department store because it was connected to their HQ, at which hundreds of buyers, designers, and the like worked. Macy's bought them. Within a year the downtown department store was shuttered and a block of the city is vacant. Many people in the creative industry had to leave St. Louis for New York. Maybe a sweater is five dollars cheaper, I don't know.

    OKC's examples are less dramatic. And as long as OKC participates fully in the capitalist cycle, it'll continue to grow and prosper. But we need to be creating things to hedge our bets and not simply waiting for the next inevitable Amazon warehouse.

  5. #30

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    Quote Originally Posted by stlokc View Post
    OKC's examples are less dramatic. And as long as OKC participates fully in the capitalist cycle, it'll continue to grow and prosper. But we need to be creating things to hedge our bets and not simply waiting for the next inevitable Amazon warehouse.
    Paycom, Loves, Hobby Lobby and scores of other companies have been home-grown.

    You mention Mid-First being bought by Bank of America and that is exactly what happened with First National/Boatman's. And now we do have Mid-First and American Fidelity and BancFirst.

    Things are way, way better from an employment standpoint than they ever have been.

  6. #31

    Default Re: The Internet and Jobs

    Indeed.

    I think we're talking past each other a little bit and it might be my fault. I'm not suggesting that OKC does not have home grown companies. Love's, Paycom, Hobby Lobby are all great examples of local companies prospering and there are many other examples. Hopefully they stay locally-owned (unlike, sadly, Sonic) and their ranks continue to grow. What I was trying to say is it's not just about numbers of people employed in a given city, or what their wages are. There are more factors at play in creating a truly prosperous place.

    The larger point the OP made was about the internet and jobs and we should probably get back there.

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