How Attending a Top-Ranked University Can Help You Gain Traction in the Job Market

October 27, 2020

As you contemplate applying for college, graduate students in-the-making should work to understand how employers screen their applicants, i.e., what credentials they look for and what automatically disqualifies a prospective employee. If you’re in the midst of the application process and looking to quit your current job, you should also pay special attention to how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way companies currently do business.

In the wake of budget cuts, cost reductions, and increased terminations, employers have dramatically reformed their hiring protocols and procedures. For example, with limited resources, management has started to prioritize the quality of employees over the number of employees.

As a means of looking out for your future, you should be looking for the best educational opportunities available to you. In your search for the right university, logistical and financial concerns will likely arise. Despite these challenges, you’ll still need to be able to compete for jobs in a potentially shrinking job market. How do you do that?

First, you might want to take a look at current college stats and trends. This step will allow you to identify esteemed universities that can make you more marketable as an employee in an employer’s market.

Second, you need to decide if getting an education or a Marketing MBA from a top-ranked university will offer you any advantages. For answers to these high-stakes questions, you’ll need to perform a quick risk-reward analysis. If you take the leap and agree to go into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a more prestigious education, will it pay off with higher-paying job opportunities?

As you go about predicting the future of the business environment, keep your future in mind. To ensure success and financial stability, here are a few ways that attending a top university might help you.

Four benefits of attending a top-ranked university

Every decision you make in life should be geared towards improving the quality of your life now and in the future. Not surprisingly, an Ivy League education could help somewhat, at least in the financial realm. However, you might not realize that some career paths don’t depend on the quality of education as much as others.

For instance, aspiring architects benefit little by shelling out extra money to attend an elite school. Plenty of well-respected, high-paying jobs in the architecture sector are attainable with an online degree.

Conversely, a business or law degree from a school like Harvard or Princeton could provide tremendous future benefits. What kind of advantages? Read on.

Resume Boost

As economic fallout ensues in the COVID-19 era, the competition for higher-paying jobs is going to increase. Some people will attempt to compete with extensive job experience and less advanced college degrees. This strategy works well when dealing with employers looking for applicants with ample experience and industry knowledge, as both will, ultimately, benefit the company.

If a manager’s focus is on hiring candidates who have great potential, education would likely be a determining factor. In such cases, the depth of education and the university of origin comes into play. If a law firm is looking for a potential future partner, the name of an elite school attached to a candidate’s name will always capture their attention, only if their other credentials are comparable to competing applicants.

Improves your chances of being accepted into a graduate program

Advanced degrees often translate to better jobs and more pay. Unfortunately, it’s infinitely more difficult to get into a graduate program than an undergraduate program. Because the number of applicants outweighs the number of openings, a whopping percentage of prospective graduate students will receive a rejection letter.

With a limited number of places in a program, graduate schools will favor candidates with the most potential. Whether fair or not, degrees from elite schools can help boost your chances of being accepted into the graduate program of your choosing.

Better pay and benefits

As you review school and employment statistics, you’ll likely realize there’s a direct correlation between education quality and first-year salary. That’s not even taking extra benefits like tuition reimbursement into consideration.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that graduates from elite schools have greater access to big-name companies with generous starting salaries. With increased sales volume, top-ranked companies can usually pay more and offer better perks/benefits, giving Ivy League graduates a head start in the race for a six-figure salary.

Alumni connections

The collective graduates from a top-ranked school put a lot of value in their alumni programs and associations. In life, it’s not always what you know but who you know that can open doors. With friends in high places, you may be able to score positions otherwise out of reach.

It’s near impossible to quantify the value you derive as an alumni from MIT or an Ivy League school, as these benefits vary from graduate to graduate. That said, at some point in your life, the benefits of such associations will become apparent. Should you apply for a position with hundreds of applicants, recommendations from fellow alumni can bolster your application.

In conclusion

Before getting caught up in the Ivy League craze, consider your desired field and the value they place on an undergraduate/graduate degree from an elite university. Don’t bury yourself in student debt for no reason at all. Do your due diligence and investigate how an Ivy League education might benefit you as a working professional.

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7 Practical Tips for Students Looking for Their First Job

October 27, 2020

Looking for your first job straight after college or after high school can be a frightening experience. There is a fear that you are competing with people who are far more experienced and knowledgeable than you are. However, that should not stop you from applying for those jobs and sending out your CV. To help you land your first job, here are seven tips to consider.

Focus On the Industry, Not the Job

Your goal may be to be the CEO of that big brand company, but the chances of landing such a position straight off the bat are nearly impossible. You should focus on getting your foot in the door and working your way up. There is a higher likelihood of being noticed for your good qualities from within the industry than out of it.

When you get an entry position, you get to meet and interact with key industry players who could connect you with great opportunities. Once you’re in, work hard, say yes often, and go beyond what is expected of you to increase your chances of raising ranks fast. To paraphrase one of the famous black authors, be prepared to reinvent yourself over and over until you find your best fit.

Research, Research, Research

Thanks to technology and innovation, most industries are evolving fast. The role you are interested in filling today may become obsolete tomorrow. You need to keep up with critical industry news at all times. Secondly, when you get interview opportunities, research the company. Understand their goals, their mission and vision, and their clients. This information could help you stand out during the interview as it shows that you are interested in the company.

Practice for Interviews

You may have excellent skills and passion, but with sub-par interview skills, you may not get the chance to show this to your potential employer. Thanks to the internet, there are thousands of guides on how to ace interviews. Read about common interview questions and the best ways to answer them. Also, learn about things not to do at interviews that would give the hiring team the wrong impression of you. For example, avoid asking about benefits and holidays early on.

Focus On the Opportunity, Not the Money

This point goes hand in hand with focusing on the industry, not the job. When you are starting, you may not be paid as much as you want to or think you deserve. After all, you may be settling for an entry-level position. This may be a tough pill to swallow, especially with the high living standards and mounting student debt, but you must. This is not to say that you should take a job that pays you less than the minimum wage. Just be prepared to start small and work your way up. The experience earned along the way should help you ask for more, especially if you get the right type of experience.

Make the Most of Your Connections

Most jobs you apply for will probably have many applicants besides you. It may seem like cheating but don’t be afraid to use your connections to put in the right word for you. Done correctly, it may help you get a quick interview or meeting to showcase your skills and consequently help you get the job.

Be Prepared for Rejections

You may get many rejection letters before you get that yes. And contrary to what you may believe, you may also reject a few opportunities along the way because you don’t feel they are a good fit. Professional companies will send you rejection emails or letters with feedback on why you didn’t get the job. Tweak your resume, applications, and interview techniques in line with this feedback until you get it right and land a good job. Also, try not to take it personally.

Be Patient

This is in line with the previous tip. To be safe, lower your expectations and don’t expect to get a job the day after graduation. Your friend might have, but they are the exception, not the rule. Considering that you may be working for a long time (thirty to forty years before retiring), a few weeks or months of job hunting will not hurt you. You can decide to use this time wisely to make you more employable as time goes by. For example, you can decide to take short certification courses or apply for internship opportunities. The right opportunity for you will come along eventually.

There is a lot you can do as you apply for your first job. Pick up temporary gigs, learn new skills, and build your network. Be open to any new and worthwhile opportunities that come your way. Many people have started by looking for jobs in one industry and ended up in different but more fulfilling industries during their job searching time. This is not to say that you give up on your dream but that you are open to detours.

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5 Useful Tips to Avoid Procrastination for Students

October 27, 2020

Remember that time when you had to start writing a 2,500-word essay, but instead decided to binge-watch an entire season of a Netflix show? At some point, something like that happens to any student. As you delay or avoid doing something, you procrastinate. And as a result, your performance as well as mental wellbeing might suffer.

Whenever you feel that the task you have to do is difficult, frustrating or boring, you’re triggered to procrastinate. So it comes as no surprise that students are particularly prone to procrastination. They have to deal with a heavy workload, challenging assignments as well as stress and anxiety. Sometimes it feels like the whole dissertation team can’t solve that amount of assignments.

In this article, you’ll find some useful ways to avoid procrastination and thus, boost your efficiency and reduce stress.

Eat the Frog

“Eat the Frog” is a famous productivity method. It can help any student who is struggling with procrastination, prioritizing tasks and getting things done. Sounds like you? Then you should definitely try it out.

To eat the frog means to do the most important, difficult or tedious task first thing in the morning. The main point here is to be done with this task as soon as possible, so that it doesn’t overwhelm you during the day. So right after you finish eating the frog, you’ll feel relieved and more enthusiastic about other things on your to-do list.

Being a student, sometimes you have to eat a couple of frogs in one day, for example, write an essay and finish another writing assignment. In this case, you can always share with WritePaper.com at least one of the frogs. You really don’t have to eat your frogs all alone in tough situations.

Put Your Phone Away

It’s no secret that a smartphone is the best companion of any student when it comes to procrastination. You can scroll your Twitter, Instagram or FB feed for hours. And the same goes for watching videos on TikTok. Also, when you’re performing a difficult or boring task, you can easily get distracted by any notification that appears on your lock screen.

To control how much time you spend procrastinating with your smartphone, you can install an app designed to help reduce phone usage. Such an app can not only help you procrastinate less, but also overcome your phone addiction, in case you feel like you have one.

It might not be easy, but it’s definitely worth it. Reducing your screen time can certainly make you more productive. Also, it can improve your mood, as you won’t be wasting your time watching someone else’s perfect online life.

Set Small Achievable Goals

Some assignments feel so overwhelming that students can’t even get started. Writing a thesis would be a good example of such a herculean task. In this case, the best strategy to avoid procrastination is to break your task into smaller steps or goals. This way, it will be easier for you to achieve them and see the progress that will help you finish the whole task.

For example, if you need to write a long essay, you might approach this goal by specifying sub-goals and setting deadlines. The process of writing an essay might be divided into three stages: preparation, writing and revision. Each of these stages can be your sub-goal that you have to achieve within a specified period of time.

As you achieve these small goals one by one, you’ll feel motivated to keep going. This way, you’ll finish the whole task without losing your energy on stressing out about its complexity.

Strive for Done Over Perfect

Perfectionism is a close friend of procrastination. When you aim for perfection, you put yourself under so much pressure that you naturally start avoiding the task. Thus, you risk getting nothing done.

If you visualize a perfect essay or a project, there might arise some fears and doubts that you won’t be able to achieve this overly ambitious goal. These fears and doubts will prevent you from finishing the assignment. That’s why it’s important that you don’t complicate your life and aim for done over perfect.

Reward Yourself

As you move toward your big goal by accomplishing the small ones, you should reward yourself. Don’t think that you’ll perform better if you promise yourself a reward when the whole task is completed or the final goal. This way, you won’t feel enthusiastic enough throughout the process.

Instead, reward yourself after achieving each sub-goal. This will help you stay motivated and deal with the periods of boredom or tiredness more easily. The main point here is to make yourself feel better about the whole process, instead of merely focusing on the end result.

Wrapping Up

Though it’s necessary to give yourself a break from time to time, if you avoid a task or assignment for a long time, it means you’re procrastinating. This might negatively affect your performance as well as put your mental health in jeopardy.

To avoid procrastination, you should get done with your most important and difficult tasks as early as you can, keep your phone away, set small goals, aim for done over perfect and reward yourself regularly.

These simple and useful tips will help you save lots of hours and make the most out of your student life.

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Why Extra-Curricular Activities are So Important

October 27, 2020

Learning is more than just sitting in a traditional classroom on campus. Learners need to become a part of a wider student community regardless of the level of learning they are in if they are to become quality professionals and citizens after graduation. You have to spare a few hours in a week to attend club meetings, to be part of an extracurricular school activity, and to basically be part of a productive society.

But many learners are reluctant to engage in any activities beyond the classroom because they are busy chasing their degrees. If you are among such students, this article will explain 7 reasons why extracurricular activities are so important. But first;

The Definition of Extracurricular Activities

There are things that students do as part of their regular curriculum; things that are tested in exams. There are several components that define a regular curriculum, some of them being syllabus writing, lesson planning, and cooperative learning. Sometimes educators need to work with translation services, particularly when dealing with multilingual classes.

Then there are things that students do together as a community, registered communities for that matter, but they are not part of their course requirements. These things aren’t tested, but they require participants to have regular time commitment and initiative. Such activities are known as extracurricular activities. Note that not all things that are outside a student’s regular coursework qualify as extracurricular. For example: If you play volleyball with a few of your buddies whenever you are “not busy”, that cannot be said to be an extracurricular activity. You have to be committed to a team, a community, for you to be considered as being part of an extracurricular group.

Now that we are on the same page, let’s proceed to the 5 key reasons why you should join at least one extracurricular group:

1. Can boost academic performance

We mentioned that extracurricular participants must have initiative and commitment. They have to manage their time properly if they are to be available for their team whenever needed. They excel in extracurricular activities because they have impeccable organizational skills. All these factors combined have a significant positive impact on a learner’s academic performance.

2. Boosts cultural integration

A translation company, through a classroom environment, can help you to ease into a culture when studying abroad, particularly when you are studying a technical course such as engineering and medicine. But that is not enough. You will fight off culture shock in a foreign country more effectively if you get involved in extracurricular activities. You meet students who share the same interests as you, who are willing to be your friends, and who are ready to teach you about cultural customs. You get to practice local languages in a conversational manner when in extracurricular spaces.

Why is it important to learn a new language?

Improved brain function

According to research, learning a foreign language makes you smarter in a number of fronts. For starters, multilingual people have shown to have improved memory as compared to monolinguals. This goes on to benefit them in the old age as it reduces the chances of contracting dementia and old age memory loss. For school going individuals, memory retention helps them emerge the best in academic affairs.

In addition, learning a foreign language improves the brain’s cognitive ability. As a result, it enhances concentration, critical thinking, listening skills and creativity. You also become better at multitasking, problem solving and adapting to new environments and situations easily.

More job opportunities

In the modern business world, business owners are now more geared towards expanding their operations overseas in a bid to elevate their business to the next level. Besides that, the world has become more cosmopolitan, it is easy to find people speaking different languages in the locality. That being said, businesses have the task of connecting meaningfully with the consumers if they are to make them loyal and repeat customers. That is where the need to have bilinguals in the workplace comes in. Companies are now looking for multilingual individuals to work in the call center services, marketing and customer care among other departments.

This is simply to say, a new language in your resume gives you an edge in the highly competitive job market.

3. Helps you expand your network

If you join a drama club or college soccer team, for example, you are able to meet new people who aren’t in your classroom. These people help you build networks outside of your schoolwork. Such networks may come in handy later in life when you will be hunting for a job.

4. Can shape careers

Most students include their extracurricular involvement in their CVs. Why so? Because you need all the achievement records you can get to become competitive in the job market. Remember that thousands of students graduate every year with the same qualifications as you, so you need a little more gas in your academic tank, not just your degree. Enroll in honors societies community and development programs, and influence the world around you in a way that potential employers and future business associates will notice. Besides, the soft skills that you pick up as you engage in extracurricular activities (e.g. communication, compassion, commitment, and time management) are very relevant in modern-day interviews.

5. Can boost self-esteem

Excelling in extracurricular activities also boosts students’ confidence and communication abilities. These are usually activities that you are passionate about and gifted in, so excellence comes naturally to you. Even when you need to master new skills, you do it in a relaxed and confident manner. That is good for your confidence.

Final words: Just have fun

If not for anything else, you should engage in extracurricular activities to have fun. Social clubs take you to exhibitions, school trips, and other fun places. You will get the chance to tour other institutions during sports seasons. Bottom line: Just join for the fun and other benefits will come as additional bonuses.

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Where To Invest During COVID-19: Securing Profits During A Pandemic

October 27, 2020

Where should you invest during times of uncertainty? We weigh in on safe, high-yield investment options that should bring in secure profits during COVID-19.

There are few things more valuable than stable finances in 2020. As we continue to battle COVID-19, we’re holding our cash close to our chest to ensure we have plenty set aside for a rainy day.

After all, it looks like there are many rainy days ahead for the global economy.

It may not be the right time to play risky games with our money, but letting it sit stagnant in a savings account is just as unwise. While we ride out the pandemic, we may as well do our best to make money off our money.

In a year of significant ups and downs, it may be hard to believe that there are safe, high-yield investment opportunities out there. But if you’re looking to invest, there’s a lot to get excited about.

Gold

Gold has held onto its value throughout history, earning its place as a favoured stock investment. For this reason, gold is perceived as a safe asset during volatile periods. And what year has been more volatile in recent memory than 2020?

Despite stock market instability, gold has surged throughout the pandemic. Investors have seen gold as a safe investment to hedge against financial uncertainty, raising the price of gold by over 19%. If you had bought gold two years ago, you’d be happy with the current trends.

It’s not too late to jump on the gold train. Gold continues to appreciate even if the dollar falls and it’s not affected by fluctuating interest rates. Prices are still on the rise as investors scramble to purchase this ‘safe haven’ asset.

If you’re thinking of dabbling in stocks, gold might be the safest way to secure investment profits.

Silver

2020 is silver’s year to outshine gold. Silver is working hard to protect investors as economic stability heads further into unchartered territory. The precious metal has been a safety net this year, with prices expected to spike by the end of 2020. While it is known to rise and dip, silver has a strong reputation for making a solid recovery.

Many savvy investors see silver as one of the greatest investments of our time. Offering protection in times of turmoil, silver can secure your profits and bring greater financial security when you need it most.

Bitcoin

For a moment there it seemed that the hype around Bitcoin had subsided. But it’s back in full force.

Trading in Bitcoin comes with low fees and high liquidity, making it a good investment for short term gain. With the world so heavily reliant on the internet, it’s no wonder the digital currency has piqued the interest of so many investors. In its short history, Bitcoin has quickly increased in value. In the few periods that it’s fallen, it’s fallen slowly and has managed to stabilise in a short period of time.

There are many companies currently exchanging in Bitcoin, so it pays to do your research before deciding which to trade through. It’s also wise to protect your Bitcoin from hackers and scammers, which can be done with a hardware wallet.

Term deposits

If you’re not into trading in stock right now, look for a high-return time or term deposit to earn competitive interest on your funds.

At times like these, it pays to play it safe and fixed interest term deposits are about as safe as you can get. With little risk involved, there is very little chance that you’ll lose any money, and your funds are protected even if something were to happen to the bank.

The returns may be smaller than higher-risk investments, but with fixed interest rates, returns are steady and reassuring. Ultimately, the more money you have stowed away, the more interest you’ll earn.

Property

The property market continues to boom across the globe despite our many struggles throughout COVID-19. If you have the means to service a mortgage, property is a safe investment. Whether you’re looking for a home or investment property, now is the time to jump onto the ladder and catch prices where they’re at right now.

In the last decade, the property market has proven to be extremely profitable as both a short or long-term investment. The further down the track we get, the higher the price of property becomes, so if you’re thinking of making the purchase, do it as soon as you can.

With dropping interest rates, it’s becoming easier to finance a home loan. And with the help of tax pooling, pesky provisional tax on rental income doesn’t need to be complicated. So what’s stopping you? The real estate market is cyclical, resilient, and recovers well in times of decline. However, a downturn is not on the horizon, so it’s as good a time as any to increase your portfolio.

While these five investment options aren’t the only ones available to the savvy investor, they are the most popular options for those looking to minimise risk while maximising profit in what has already been a tumultuous year. Explore your options, diversify your portfolio, and start securing tomorrow’s profits, today.

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What Kinds of Software Do Banks Use?

October 26, 2020

When you think of a bank, what are the first images that come to mind? A teller at a booth? Security guards? A giant vault? ATM machines? All of these answers could be correct, but there’s more to a bank than meets the eye. The problem with picturing the modern bank is that people are stuck between two distinct ideas. The first is the traditional setting with tellers, offices, and other physical features, and the second is the switch to mobile apps for all of your financial needs. This second perspective of the bank has become a more dominating force.

Why is this image of the bank being a small app on your phone becoming more common in clients’ minds? The simple answer is that digital technology is the future for the financial industry, and it begins with the software that’s being used to help push change and innovation. The most obvious example is your bank’s app, but it goes well beyond just that. Here are some of the different kinds of software and services that banks need to be operational in this new digital finance landscape.

1. Customer Relationship Management

Keeping clients happy and using bank services is one of the top priorities for any legitimate financial institution. With that goal in mind, banks need ways to keep these customers and clients happy, and this is where customer relationship management (CRM) software comes in handy. The main goal of CRM software is to provide customers with features like documentation of records, client-specific offerings, marketing data, and integrated communication services. These are just some of the benefits that CRM software can provide a bank for managing clients. The most important aspect is client retention, so offering personalized sales, deals, and services plays a significant role in how people perceive their financial institution. Using CRM software, banks can effectively manage and improve how they offer their services to their existing customer base, and use the data they collect along the way to enhance their relations based on pattern-recognition and other methods of analysis.

2. Cash Optimization

Cash optimization is likely a term you may not have heard before, but if you work in the financial world, it might sound familiar. When it comes to banks, ATM machines are an essential function of the institution’s abilities, and ATM software helps banks regulate their cash flow. ATMs are often considered a simple machine that you either take out money or put in money, with other features giving you the ability to check on account balances. While those are the primary functions of an ATM for a client, a bank must manage how much money is being bought and ordered for these machines, and keep it within a reasonable limit. Having too much cash in a machine can be because it’s sitting in the machine not being activated within the cash flow, costing the bank money, and not enough cash can lead to insufficient funds for clients needing withdrawals. Optimizing cash using AI systems, forecasting, analytics, and management for cost-saving on cash orders helps banks keep costs down on ATM services for their operational needs, while increasing the effectiveness of these machines for client needs.

3. Trading Platforms

The first purpose of a bank is to hold and protect money for clients. Whether it’s a physical currency that you deposit at an ATM or through a teller, or if it’s digital finances on a bank’s mobile app, your first goal is to trust the bank with your hard-earned money. The second purpose is that banks act as an institution to invest with. Common investing strategies are high-interest savings accounts, government savings plans, and retirement plans, but many people also use stocks/stock trading, as well as forex trading. Banks offer software services and use these services as well to manage your investments through trading platforms. Maximizing the client’s money through trading helps improve the institution’s asset allocation, which is why they implement trading platforms in their software ecosystem.

4. Payment Networks

Purchasing, depositing, and withdrawing can be done through various means. ATMs, cashback through retail card machines, electronic transfer (e-transfer), debit cards, credit cards, lines of credit, Internet banking, and e-commerce payment options are types of payment networks that banks need to offer clients. These payment networks aren’t one individual type of software, but an amalgamation of many into their infrastructure. The use of payment networks allows clients and banks to access funds in more diverse ways, and allows for more access to banking services. Banks use these payment networks to help improve the services for clients, as evidenced by giving them more freedom and providing faster and safer transactions, allowing the bank to access more markets (millennial bank users, first-time bank clients, tech-savvy users, and clients with little access to a physical branch). Payment networks represent a giant leap in the software capabilities of financial institutions for customer use.

5. Information Management

Using CRM software is only one piece of the puzzle for banks and understanding clients’ information. Information management allows institutions to analyze large chunks of data in rapid time to maximize strategies for client-focused needs. Beyond the use of analyzing client data, information management helps organize and adapt strategies for bank operations. Storing data, cycling data, financial planning, and integrating other forms of management software (CRM) is part of the information management network. With all of the digital finance advancements, the need for a comprehensive system to help organize all of this user and institution data is necessary for a well-functioning bank, which is why they use information management systems.

Banking is changing in ways that never seemed possible. We’ve gone from physical assets like gold, to a fiat currency like bills and coins, and the future is showing us that decentralized digital currency could be on the horizon. With all of this rapid change moving us into digital finances, banks need to be able to handle this task, which is why they implement various software solutions. These types of software services and programs help banks maintain their ability to provide clients with services, adapt and scale to new changes, and improve their functionality on a daily basis.

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World Economic Forum (WEF) – Step Two – “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda” – After The Great Reset

October 26, 2020

By Peter Koenig

The WEF gang have just published (October 2020) a so-called White Paper, entitled “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda – in a Post-Covid World” http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_NES_Resetting_FOW_Agenda_2020.pdf

This 31-page document reads like a blueprint on how to “execute” – because an execution it would be – “Covid-19 – The Great Reset” (July 2020), by Klaus Schwab, founder and CEO (since the foundation of the WEF in 1974) and his associate Thierry Malleret. They call “Resetting the Future” a White Paper, meaning it’s not quite a final version. It is a draft of sorts, a trial balloon, to measure people’s reactions. It reads indeed like an executioner’s tale. Many people may not read it – have no awareness of its existence. If they would, they would go up in arms and take up arms to fight this latest Nazi-enterprise, offered to the world by the WEF.

It promises a horrifying future to some 80%-plus of the (surviving) population. George Orwell’s “1984” reads like a benign fantasy, as compared to what the WEF has in mind for humanity.

The time frame is ten years – by 2030 – the UN agenda 2021 – 2030 should be implemented.

Planned business measures in response to COVID-19:

An acceleration of digitized work processes, leading to 84% of all work processes as digital, or virtual / video conferences.
Some 83% of people are planned to work remotely – i.e. no more interaction between colleagues – absolute social distancing, separation of humanity from the human contact.
About 50% of all tasks are planned to be automated – in other words, human input will be drastically diminished, even while remote working.
Accelerate the digitization of upskilling / reskilling (e.g. education technology providers) – 42% of skill upgrading or training for new skills will be digitized, in other words, no human contact – all on computer, Artificial Intelligence (AI), algorithms.
Accelerate the implementation of upskilling / reskilling programs – 35% of skills are planned to be “re-tooled” – i.e. existing skills are planned to be abandoned – declared defunct.
Accelerate ongoing organizational transformations (e.g. restructuring) – 34% of current organizational set-ups are planned to be “restructured’ – or, in other words, existing organizational structures will be declared obsolete – to make space for new sets of organizational frameworks, digital structures that provide utmost control over all activities.
Temporarily reassign workers to different tasks – this is expected to touch 30% of the work force. That also means completely different pay-scales – most probably unlivable wages, which would make the also planned “universal basic salary” or “basic income” – a wage that allows you barely to survive, an obvious need. – But it would make you totally dependent on the system – a digital system, where you have no control whatsoever.
Temporarily reduce workforce – this is projected as affecting 28% of the population. It is an additional unemployment figure, in disguise, as the “temporarily” will never come back to full-time.
Permanently reduce workforce – 13% permanently reduced workforce.
Temporarily increase workforce – 5% – there is no reference to what type of workforce – probably unskilled labor that sooner or later will also be replaced by automation, by AI and robotization of the workplace.
No specific measures implemented – 4% – does that mean, a mere 4% will remain untouched? From the algorithm and AI-directed new work places? – as small and insignificant as the figure is, it sounds like “wishful thinking”, never to be accomplished.
Permanently increase workforce – a mere 1% is projected as “permanently increased workforce”. This is of course not even cosmetics. It is a joke.

This is the state of the affair – of implementation of The Great Reset.
The Great Reset also foresees, a credit scheme, whereby all personal debt would be “forgiven” – against handing over all personal assets to an administrative body or agency – could possibly be the IMF.

So, you would own nothing – and be happy. Because all your necessities will be provided for.
Also, it should not occur to you to disagree with the system, because – by now each one of you has been covid-vaccinated and nano-chipped – so that with 5G and soon to come 6G, your mind can be read and influenced.

Please do not call this conspiracy theory. DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is part of the Pentagon – and has years ago developed the technology. It is just a matter of time to implement it. And Implemented it will be, if We, The People, do not protest — Massive Civil Disobedience is of the order – and that rather sooner than later.

The more we wait with action, the more we sleepwalk into this absolute human disaster.

Human contact is being eviscerated.

This has several advantages for this Nazi-type novel WEF approach to humanity – to controlling humanity – We, The People, cannot rebel, we have no longer cohesion among ourselves, “We, The People”, will be played against each other – and there is an absolute digital control over humanity – executed by a small super elite. We have no access to this digital control – it is way beyond our reach. The idea is, that we will gradually grow into it – those of us who may survive. Within a generation or so, it is expected to become the New Normal.

The “survival angle” is an aspect not mentioned directly either in The Great Reset, or the “Implementation Guide” – i.e. in the White Paper “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda – in a Post-Covid World”.

Bill Gates, the Rockefellers, Kissinger et al, have never even made a secret out of their strong opinion that the world is over-populated and that a sizable amount of people have to be literally eliminated. We are dealing with eugenicists.

A perfect method for decimating the world population, are Bill Gates initiated, and WHO-supported vaccination programs. Scandals of such disastrous and children-killing programs abound in India (in the 1990s), Kenya (2014 forward) and other parts of the world. – See also a very revealing TedTalk by Bill Gates of February 2010, “Innovating to Zero” https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_innovating_to_zero?language=en,

just about at the time when the “2010 Rockefeller Report” was issued – the very report that has given us so far, the “Lockstep Scenario” – and we are living it. Hardly protesting it – the entire world – 193 UN member countries – has been coopted or coerced into following this abject human rights abuse on a global scale.

What either report, The Great Reset and the “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda” fails to mention is who is going to enforce these draconian new rules? – They are supposedly the same forces which now are being trained for urban warfare and for suppressing riots and social unrest – they are the police and the military.

Part of our People’s Organization of Civil Disobedience, will be on how to focus on and talking to, educating, informing the police and military of what they will be used for by this small elite, and that in the end they are also just human beings, like the rest of us, therefore they better stand up in defense of the people, of humanity. The same needs to be done to teachers and medical personnel – information, the unfettered truth.

That’s the challenge. If we succeed – the game is over. But it’s a long way. Media disinformation is brutal and powerful and hard to contradict for “us”, without any sizable budget for counter-propaganda, and as a group of people, which is ever more divided by the very media. The mandatory wearing masks and social distancing – has already made enemies of what we used to be, colleagues, friends, even within families, this very dictate has managed to create rifts and disaccord.

No fear – but shredding “Resetting the Future of Work Agenda” and the “The Great Reset” literally to pieces – with a human alternative that would do away with organizations like the WEF, and coopeted UN agencies, like WHO, UNICEF, WTO, World Bank, IMF – and maybe even the entire UN system – and incarcerate their leaders, after giving them due process – Nuremberg style.

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About the Author

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals such as Global Research; ICH; New Eastern Outlook (NEO) and more. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.
Peter Koenig is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

Growth That Celebrates Inequality

October 25, 2020

By Namira Samir

It is true that digital innovation helps ease problems of access to finance, reducing the literacy divide, among others. And we have heard enough of those tales. It has been in the spotlight for a long time, making us unaware of the beastly character of innovation that, instead of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, only promotes the concentration of wealth in just a few hands. By concentrating the analysis on Indonesia’s recent transition to an upper-middle-income country, this article shows how this achievement, which is measured by growth and was made possible by innovation, has not been able to address inequality.

Indonesia, much like other developing nations, is celebrating its upgrading to an upper-middle-income economy. Country-level income classifications rely on gross national income (GNI) per capita. Simply put, GNI is the gross domestic product (GDP) plus earnings from foreign sources. While an increase in GNI signifies an improvement in the overall welfare of a country, it does not necessarily mean that growth becomes equal.

Indonesia’s GNI per capita as of July 2020 is US$4,050[i], which means, on average, that is every Indonesian citizen’s income before tax. Now we know clearly that this is not the case. As of March 2020, 26.42 million Indonesians live on less than Rp454,652/month[ii]. If we convert that into USD, it is about US$370 per year. These people do not even own 10% of what has been widely celebrated as a new achievement of Indonesia.

There are two important questions to pose: how this happened and what should be done.

To answer the first question, let us start with a fact: as a developing country, Indonesia is in the process of catching up. Its upgrading to the upper-middle-income country was made possible because of two factors: demographic dividend and private consumption.

As mentioned in Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the 21^st Century”[iii], demographic dividend can be an equaliser, since it can further induce economic growth and eventually decrease inequality through reducing inherited wealth by the creation of new jobs and, understandably, the need for new skill sets.

Indonesia is a market economy, but it is also the tenth-biggest market in the world. The country is earning plenty from its demographic composition, which is dominated by those at the productive age – be it from contributing directly to the workforce or through private consumption.

As of June 2020, private consumption contributes 59.4% to Indonesia’s nominal GDP. While it is unrealistic to define Indonesia’s consumption-led growth solely from the 2020 figures, because of the economic contraction due to COVID-19 pushing Indonesia’s GDP into a negative term, if we take a look back at last year’s figure, Indonesia has already ridden consumption-led growth, in which consumption is higher than real GDP.

Constant growth, even as little as 0.5%, might address income inequality (Piketty, 2017). Meanwhile, Indonesia’s growth, while charmingly consistent at around 5% pre-COVID, seemed not to tackle income inequality. The Gini ratio of Indonesia wandered around at 39 to 41 – with no sign of any significant decline. Why?

From the poverty and inequality figures above, we can be confident that the income per capita of Indonesians is rising, but this is by and large only being felt by those who possess enormous private wealth, suit-and-tie workers, or those investing in an industry which witnesses a surge in demand, such as the digital industry.

However, in the process of catching up, the government should have paid attention to using growth as an equaliser by investing in public assets that seek to reduce income inequality and, hence, poverty.

The Indonesian government is gradually increasing public assets in health, education and even housing. Yet, the tale of poverty as a problem of basic needs is ancient. Likewise, the solution to addressing income inequality is not by excessive taxation on the rich and distributing the money to the rest of the population. Something is different in the 21^st century.

Innovation and Inequality

Redistribution of wealth will occur when we address the root causes of inequality. Innovation, while it scales up GNI per capita, might sustain, or even worsen, inequality.

To put this into context, let us consider technological innovation in an entertainment company that we are all familiar with: Netflix. A monthly Netflix subscription in Indonesia would cost roughly US$7.39 (Rp100,000) per month. For you to be able to watch Netflix in the first place, you need an internet connection – and an electronic device, obviously.

Some domestic players are also attempting to offer domestic-level entertainment with a competitive price range. People are attracted to this lifestyle, because it offers comfort and flexibility. You no longer need a TV to watch a movie or to keep up to date with current affairs. But at what cost?

Not only has the source of entertainment switched to an extremely virtual medium, but access to information, too, and buying access to information from reliable channels might influence social mobility. So, it is imperative to ask who can access these sources and who gains from this innovation. Whose wallets are shrinking and whose bank accounts are loaded with cash? As of now, innovation encourages growth but perpetuates inequality.

But that does not mean all innovations produce unfavourable outcomes for reducing inequality. A number of digital companies are working to spread awareness of Indonesia’s development issues. Asumsi.co’s #KerahBiru is an example of digital content which aims to narrate the story of manual labourers, who hardly benefit from the rising GNI per capita. Since they cannot benefit directly from innovation, then having an intermediary can ease the process of social mobility. Although #KerahBiru might have no direct effect on reducing inequality, it sets an example of using innovation to articulate the story of – instead of accumulating growth.

The story of innovation has been primarily focused on the digitalisation of financial services and economic activities which are documented to contribute to inclusive development. It is a good narrative, albeit built on an ugly reality. By continuing to retell the success stories of innovation, our insights are blinded from seeing what innovation has brought and how we should respond so as to prevent the intensification of precarity.

It is hard to know what will work against inequality in the 21^st century, because we are dealing with a fast-changing world that will continue to twist us with unpredictable eventualities. Innovation is inevitable. But when it preserves the imbalance of wealth, the state must interfere. The government needs to recognise the presence of different powers that dominate national-level earnings. As a starter, the government might start incorporating innovation-related resources that can factor development into the definition of public assets.

Once again, our duty is not just to raise pity. Neither is it merely about showing empathy. Rather, it is about making sure that one day, GNI per capita, just like any other growth measure, can at least loosely reflect the welfare of citizens – not only as a collective but as individuals.

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About the Author

Namira Samir is a PhD candidate at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). As a development economist, she uses an interdisciplinary approach and mixed methods to understand poverty and inequalities. Her PhD research focuses on the development geography of Islamic Microfinance in Indonesia.

Reference

[i] https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-world-bank-country-classifications-income-level-2020-2021

[ii] https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/07/15/poverty-rate-rises-in-march-as-pandemic-hits-vulnerable-communities.html

[iii] http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/capital21c2

How SaaS Companies Can Get Customer Training Right

October 25, 2020

Churn.

This is a word that almost all SaaS companies dread. If you didn’t already know, the term ‘churn’ is used in SaaS circles to describe losing customers.

Depending on the business in consideration, there can be a number of factors behind customer churn. However, as many top industry articles note, one of the most pressing reasons behind customer churn is bad onboarding.

When we talk about onboarding for SaaS customers, the customer training initiative, which is usually aimed at helping the customer with smooth adoption of the SaaS solution, plays an influential role.

The training aspect of the customer onboarding process is the tool that helps customers make the journey from paying for your product to achieving ‘success’ with your product.

In this article, we will be discussing the steps SaaS businesses can follow to create a holistic and engaging training experience that reduces churn and improves the quality of their customer onboarding process.

Let us begin:

Create Training Content Thoughtfully

Unlike physical products, many SaaS products are complex and involve a significant learning curve. If this is the case, your training must reflect that with the training content.

Instead of text based PPT presentations, your training must utilise a combination of text, videos, audio lessons, and infographics to create an entertaining, engaging, and easy to consume training content. Not to forget, the use of multimedia can make it easier to explain (and understand) complex concepts.

With that said, creating content for training SaaS customers requires additional diligence. You must think about the possible support situations that may arise in the future, and address all such situations in your training. This is the only way to make your training truly impactful for your customers. It is also a good idea to add an element of storytelling to your training content.

To create such content, you can employ an elearning authoring tool that allows the creation of engaging and professional grade training content. To find the right authoring software for your needs, it is important to conduct an eLearning authoring tools comparison to find one that offers the features and abilities that are relevant to your specific use case scenario.

Don’t Just Distribute, Track The Results

Creating great training content is just the first step of the process of providing any kind of training. The next step is to master distribution. Thankfully, there are SaaS solutions designed to make your job easier.

Popularly known as learning management systems (LMS), these cloud based solutions allow businesses to store and distribute training content with efficiency. Learning management systems also come loaded with a variety of features designed to make your training experience more engaging.

However, one LMS feature that deserves a special mention is the ability to track learner progress. If done right, tracking learner progress can help you uncover incredible insights that can guide decisions that improve the effectiveness of your training program.

Besides this, with a LMS, you can also provide your customers with on-demand access to the training content even after they have completed the training.

The training material will contain the answers to most of the queries that may arise after the customer starts using your product. When this happens, they can simply look up the relevant information within the LMS, without having to request and wait for support.

This will not just make for a more positive customer experience, it will also take some stress off the shoulders of your support executives.

Communicate Benefits Effectively

This step is often overlooked by companies. However, unless you explain to your customer the importance of the training, along with the exact training outcomes they can expect after investing their time, you will not be able to engage them with your training.

On the other hand, a customer that understands how the training will benefit them and will enable them to make the most of the product they are purchasing will be more interested and invested during the training.

Pay Attention To Feedback

Feedback from your learners will enable you to understand how effectively your customers are able to use your product after going through the training.

Problems identified with this feedback will highlight issues in one of the following two areas:

Your Product: Feedback may reveal that there are certain features of your product that can be designed better. Acting on this feedback usually leads to the roll out of a more user friendly version of your product, and a higher approval of the same among customers.

Think about how you would feel if you suggested a change in a SaaS product that you use and they actually acted on your suggestion. Delighted, right? You can expect a similar reaction from your happy customers.

With that said, the ultimate call to roll out new updates should be taken with utmost diligence.

Your Training Experience: Feedback may also reveal areas where your training is falling short. It is extremely important to pay attention to this feedback because the objective of your training initiative is to create a delightful customer experience. If the customers are finding faults with the training experience itself, it is a pressing issue that must be addressed pronto.

Focus On Creating A Community

Developing a community around your SaaS product is perhaps the most effective marketing tactic you can employ. When done right, this community will not just communicate the credibility and utility of your product, but will also add an element of social learning to your customer training experience.

The community portal can act as a forum where users and trainers can discuss issues and troubleshooting steps.

Another hidden benefit of creating a community is that the association with the community will become an additional reason for customers to stick to your product, further reducing churn.

Conclusion

The importance of customer training in reducing churn and retaining customers is not unknown to any SaaS business. However, many businesses fail to properly implement a training program that actually helps consumers achieve ‘success’ with their product. We hope that the information shared in this article will help you make positive changes to your customer training and onboarding process.

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A Short History of the ‘On Again, Off Again’ Fiscal Stimulus Negotiations

October 25, 2020

by Jack Rasmus

It’s been more than three months since the March-April economic rescue package, called the Cares Act, expired at the end of July. Since then both political parties, Republican and Democrat, have played a ‘hot potato’ bargaining game: i.e. “here’s my offer, the ball’s in your court…Here’s mine, now it’s your turn”. This week the game continues, showing no indication of ending.

Last March’s ‘CARES ACT’ was not a fiscal stimulus. It was instead about ‘mitigation’–meaning the various measures contained in that $2.3 trillion package (actually nearly $3T when the additional $650 billion in business-investor tax cuts are added to the Act) were designed only to put a floor under the collapsing US economy–not to generate a sustained economic recovery. Even the politicians voting for it publicly acknowledged at the time that it was not a stimulus bill, but rather a set of measures designed to buy time–no more than 10-12 weeks at most–until a more serious economic recovery Act could be implemented.

The real fiscal stimulus bill was to follow, designed to pick the economy up off the floor and generate a sustained recovery as the economy reopened. The reopening began in May and gained a little momentum over the summer. But not enough to generate a sustained recovery by itself that was expected by late summer.

In a typical Great Recession trajectory, the reopening over the summer resulted in a roughly two-thirds recovery of lost economic activity by end of July. It was thought by politicians and mainstream economists that, when the reopening crested at two-thirds in July, a subsequent real stimulus bill would follow. The two forces–reopening and fiscal stimulus–would together generate a sustained recovery.

But it just didn’t happen that way. Nor is it to date.

The Democrats in the US House of Representatives presented their version of a fiscal stimulus bill–called the HEROES ACT-in late May. But the Trump administration and the McConnell led Republican majority in the US Senate balked at joining in passing a stimulus bill.

McConnell & friends looked around and it appeared big business and corporations and banks were doing just fine by June–even if small business and working households were not. A few exceptions to big business doing well were the airlines, hotels and some leisure and hospitality industries. But banks and other big corporations were fat with cash. The Federal Reserve had already pumped nearly $3 trillion in virtually free money into the banks. And big corporations had raised trillions of dollars more by selling corporate bonds at record historical levels, at cheapest rates, also made possible by the Federal Reserve. Trillions more were hoarded by borrowing down their credit lines with banks, saving on facilities operations, and temporarily suspending dividends and stock buybacks.

The Democrats in the US House of Representatives presented their version of a fiscal stimulus bill–called the HEROES ACT-in late May. But the Trump administration and the McConnell led Republican majority in the US Senate balked at joining in passing a stimulus bill.

McConnell, Trump and their business constituencies didn’t need more stimulus. Indeed, they didn’t even need the Cares Act. That Act, passed in March, included among its provisions no less than $1.1 trillion in loans for medium and large businesses, along with $650B in tax cuts for the same. But as of this past August, less than $150 billion of that $1.1 trillion had actually been borrowed by big businesses and spent into the economy, and it appears little of the tax cuts resulted in production increases or hiring as well.

So in June, McConnell and the Republican Senate dug in their heels for two months and simply ignored the Democrat House stimulus proposal in the form of their late May passed $3.4 trillion HEROES ACT bill.

In July McConnell eventually put forth his proposal, called the ‘HEALS Act’. It totaled $1.5 trillion, but was loaded with ambiguous and onerous language like exempting all businesses from any and all legal claims for negligence for failing to provide safety and health conditions for their workers.

By end of July the only provisions of the Cares Act that provided any semblance of economic stimulus ran out. That was the $500 billion in extra unemployment assistance to workers, the $1200 checks, and the $670 billion in grants and loans (mostly grants) to small businesses. The unemployment, checks and grants amounted to government spending of only $1.2 trillion of the Cares Act’s $3 or so trillion. That $1.2 trillion was, and remains, the only actual spending to hit the economy, since the $1.1 trillion in loans to large-medium corporations has never been actually ‘taken up’ and spent into the economy by business. Ditto for the $650 billion in business tax cuts in the Cares Act. So only a little more than a third of the Cares Act resulted in any economic spending.

That $1.2 trillion, moreover, amounts to barely 5.5% of US GDP. In GDP percentage terms, that’s roughly the size of the 2009 stimulus of $787 billion spent during the previous Great Recession of 2008-09. That $787 billion proved insufficient at the time to generate a prompt recovery from that recession. It took six years just to get back to the level of jobs in 2007 before that recession, for example. But today’s 2020 Great Recession 2.0 is four times deeper in terms of economic contraction compared to 2008-09. And it’s still only an effective 5.5% spending package as contained in the March Cares Act.

A much more aggressive stimulus bill was desperately needed as a follow up as the Cares Act spending ran out at the end of July. The May HEROES ACT was an attempt to provide that follow up actual stimulus but, as noted, McConnell, Trump and Republicans weren’t interested. Their banker and big business constituencies were doing quite well by early-summer. No doubt Trump-McConnell further believed the reopening of the economy, as Covid 19 disappeared, would prove sufficient to lead to a sustained economic recovery.

Of course, history has already proven them wrong.

By late July many sectors of the US economy began to weaken again. And a second, worse wave of Covid 19 hit the economy in July-August, just as the weak Cares Act spending ran out at the end of July. Unemployment claims began to slowly rise again through August and into September. Small businesses began to close, many permanently now, in greater numbers. Large corporations began to announce mass layoffs, more permanent than just furloughs now. Evictions of renters by the millions began to occur. Low income homeowners began to miss mortgage payments. And the much predicted V-shape recovery began to look increasingly like a ‘W-shape’.

But instead of seeing the trend, Trump and McConnell doubled down and refused to negotiate seriously with the Democrat House on its HEROES Act proposal. In early August, House Speaker Pelosi, thinking the Trump administration might bargain in good faith, reduced her proposal from the HEROES Act $3.4 trillion cost by $1.2 trillion. Instead of following up, however, the Trump negotiators, led by Trump’s Staff Secretary, Mark Meadows, abruptly broke off all negotiations–without making a counter offer. What he did leave though was a bad taste in the mouths of Pelosi and Schumer, who now could not trust the Trump team should further negotiations resume. Nor could they trust McConnell and his Republican Senate, who followed Trump and withdrew their prior HEALS ACT $1.5T and refused to consider anything more than $650 billion if brought to the Senate by the Trump-Pelosi negotiators in the future. Moreover, $350B of the $650B was unspent funds left over from the Cares Act. So the net spending increase proposed was only $300B.

Trump had set up Pelosi and then ‘sandbagged’ her, in bargaining parlance. Within 24 hours Trump publicly announced four executive orders as his personal fiscal stimulus offer. But the EOs were no stimulus in fact. Just a diversion of already existing government funds and payroll tax cuts that would have to be repaid in 2021.

Both sides maneuvered in the press thereafter, as the US economy weakened further throughout September and into October–and as the Covid 19 infection rates surged once again. The Virus was not cooperating with economic recovery. And there was no stimulus to assist in that either. Meanwhile, millions more were becoming unemployed–at least 30 to 35 million remained jobless as of mid October. Food deprivation worsened and food lines began emerging again. Rent evictions were now escalating as well. Hundreds of thousands more small businesses were closing their doors, with predictions by the National Federation of Independent Business that millions would fail in coming months–even as bankers, big corporations, and stock and financial markets attained record levels.

Trump then shot himself in the foot by declaring there would be no further negotiations on a stimulus until after the November 3 election. McConnell said that was fine since 20% of his Republicans were against any further stimulus out of concern of its negative impact on the US deficit, which by October hit a record $3.1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year–the largest in modern history.

Trump had set up Pelosi and then ‘sandbagged’ her, in bargaining parlance. Within 24 hours Trump publicly announced four executive orders as his personal fiscal stimulus offer. But the EOs were no stimulus in fact.

Trump’s walking away from any further negotiations hurt his political chances, since not only were workers, renters, and small businesses being ‘thrown under the bus’, but the announcement had serious negative effects on stock market values. Now big corporations were worried too. So Trump back-tracked and made another bargaining offer.

Which brings us to events of the last 10 days. Trump offered Pelosi-Shumer an $1.8 trillion counter offer–complete with loophole language permitting him to renege on items of his choice. $350B of the $1.8T was just carry over of unspent Cares Act funds. So Trump’s offer last week was the same $1.5T of the July HEALS ACT. But it was an offer he now couldn’t deliver. McConnell in the Senate quickly added he wouldn’t even bring the $1.8T up for a Senate vote because he couldn’t get it passed within his own Republican ranks.

What the $1.8T did achieve was to get the corporate wing of the Democrat party, including its mainstream media arms–MSNBC, CNN, etc.–to raise the pressure on Pelosi to accept Trump’s phony $1.8T offer that he couldn’t deliver. What Trump wanted, and still wants, is just an announcement of a ‘deal’ that he can take credit for as he campaigns across the country before the election. What big business wants is the same, an announcement, not necessarily a deal right now. Stock prices and especially tech sector stocks have begun seriously wavering on news of no stimulus negotiations. An announcement would quell that issue and ensure stock prices remain strong through the election. Even some ‘left’ Democrats like Rho Khanna and Andrew Yang–both from silicon valley–chimed in and demanded Pelosi accept the Trump offer.

So what happens next, this week? Trump’s negotiator, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Pelosi have begun to talk yet again. Trump wants to announce a deal before the next presidential debate with Joe Biden this Thursday, only 72 hrs away. Today, October 20, Trump reportedly has instructed Mnuchin to increase his offer to $2T. (He even said he’d go higher than $2.2T to get a deal). He knows he’s got nothing to lose, and he knows McConnell’s ‘hard cop’ is there backing him up to stop (or at least change the terms of any tentative deal) for him. Trump gains a campaign message. McConnell blocks any deal. And Pelosi and the Democrats get nothing once again except more negotiations, now with McConnell. It’s a clever ‘double-teaming’ of the Democrats by the Republicans, once again!

Apparently getting wise to Trump-McConnell games, Pelosi on Tuesday said language likely can’t be finalized on a deal until Friday–thus denying Trump the opportunity to claim ‘he got the deal’ in this coming Thursday night final presidential debate with Biden.

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About the Author

Jack Rasmus is author of ’The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy from Reagan to Trump, Clarity Press, January 2020. He blogs at jackrasmus.com and hosts the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions on the Progressive Radio Network on Fridays at 2pm est. His twitter handle is @drjackrasmus.