Colleges and Corporations

[HALL85]

On the heels of the college admissions scandal and the political positions encouraging “free college” education for all, I think Jamie Dimon offers a thought provoking perspective. Are colleges the best environment to teach and prepare the workforce of the future? Are they really nimble enough given how the job landscape is changing?

You can’t dispute his statistics and we can debate whether corporations should invest more in finding, training and developing talent. I would rather see us recognize and reward corporate responsibility with programs like he is taking the lead.

On a similar front, I’m looking forward to see the outcome of the healthcare collaboration he is working on with Bezos and Buffett.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/jam...t-the-us-economy-leaving-the-poor-behind.html

 

[Section112]

I've seen Jamie speak a number of times and no one loves himself more than Jamie.

In this case he makes some very good points. I consult with a number of large US and international banks and I have to say in the last four/five years many banks are making great contributions to their communities. KeyBank for instance is really trying to give back to Cleveland and a lot of the communities they serve and promote education and the arts.

Also saw where entrepreneurs are starting to reach out to areas in the US where the economy is awful especially in middle America to start plants, train workers etc. After going to India to see how many massive buildings they have that support US companies (for instance Deloitte has 30,000+ Indian employees) - not that there is anything wrong with that - I would like to see more American companies and entrepreneurs work with underserved areas in the US to help our citizens and economies. It's not easy because a lot of those very poor areas are havens for drugs, people don't have the right education or skills etc. But there is a potentially huge market out there right in our own country to "in-source" many services (call centers, lockbox and cash management operations, tech centers etc) and jobs vs. the Amazon model of going only to a certain color state on one of the coasts and hold them up for every tax benefit they can get. It will take a lot of investment. Hope Jamie is successful and does what he says.

 

[Merge]

Are colleges the best environment to teach and prepare the workforce of the future? Are they really nimble enough given how the job landscape is changing?

Probably not. I think there will always be a place for a larger liberal arts education but realistically there are probably lots of other models that could do a better job. Hopefully his vision gains some momentum.

 

[cernjSHU]

Is it a coincidence that the middle class has shrunk at the same time manufacturing jobs and unions have declined? The war against labor unions and the lack of blue collar jobs has created a hole in the middle class. Where can good solid people who are not college educated people find a job with good benefits now? Very few good union jobs out there.

 

[HALL85]

Is it a coincidence that the middle class has shrunk at the same time manufacturing jobs and unions have declined? The war against labor unions and the lack of blue collar jobs has created a hole in the middle class. Where can good solid people who are not college educated people find a job with good benefits now? Very few good union jobs out there.

I think that’s a vast oversimplification of the problem.