AI impact is starting to be felt in large companies around the world

January 17th, 2025

Author

SGT
January 17, 2025

Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter

January 17th, 2025

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CURRENT EVENTS

AI impact is starting to be felt in large companies around the world

 Our take: In previous generations, getting a solid middle management job at a large, stable company was a good bet to find prosperity. Companies were loyal to workers, who in turn were loyal to companies, and everyone benefitted.

The first big change in these relationships was the move away from pension plans to 401(k) programs for employees. Instead of the company providing retirement, you had pre-tax deductions taken from your paycheck so you could invest it and create your own retirement nest egg.

The problem here is it turns out a large segment of the population is not very disciplined or educated on how to make these investments. Couple that with the fact that many companies took these cost savings directly to the bottom line and did not share or incentivize their associates with some portion of those savings, and we started down the path we find ourselves on today.

With the rise of AI technology, many companies have taken the next step in the name of “productivity” and eliminated the person in favor of AI software programs that can do most of the same things a person in these roles can do.

Huge companies like Meta, BlackRock, and Microsoft have either cut or are planning to cut tens of thousands of white-collar, middle-management jobs and turn those functions over to software programs that don’t have to take the kids to soccer practice, don’t ever get sick, and don’t need weekends off to relax.

For those not paying attention, they are going to find themselves in the same position a buggy whip maker was in in the early 1900s. We have advocated looking at positions in the skilled trades for a while. AI cannot wire a light switch, diagnose and fix a plumbing issue, or install a furnace in someone’s basement.

This is Darwinism at its finest. It would behoove people to start adapting right now if they have a job that doesn’t require any manual labor or any specific skill set. If not, they are going to be on the breadline sooner or later.

COURTESY: MSN

Election denier Stacey Abrams groups agree to record fines for election ethics violations

Our take: In the 2010s, Stacey Abrams was a rising star in the Democratic Party. The Yale-educated JD was a smart, driven politician, serving in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007-2017. She earned the Democrat nomination for the governor’s race in 2018, where she ran a good campaign and narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp. This is where she went off the rails.

For all you Trump haters, let’s not forget that Abrams has never conceded her loss in 2018, not to this day. She claimed “voter suppression kept her from victory and spent the next several years unsuccessfully trying to get anyone to believe her. Rather than capitalize on her great showing in her first try at the Governor’s mansion, she lost many voters over the three years she spent chasing ghosts and lost the 2022 election by much wider margins.

Now it has come out that two political advocacy groups founded by Abrams have agreed to the largest fines levied by the Georgia State Ethics Commission, $300,000 in total, for illegally using campaign funds. The groups were found to have committed 16 violations involving $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in spending related to the 2018 campaign.

I guess this is much different than Donald Trump paying $130,000 to a porn actress and recording it incorrectly in his books. For that offense, Trump was hauled into a New York court and convicted of a crime that even the jury, the judge, and the prosecutor cannot explain to anyone. Seems legit to us.

With all that said, the best thing about Abrams (at least from our perspective) are the erotic novels she wrote under the pen name Selena Montgomery. Delusional election denying aside, we applaud her for branching out into other interests. Plus, she could be a lot of fun based on those books…

COURTESY: MSN

Legendary baseball broadcaster Bob Uecker dies at 90

Our take:  Bob Uecker was a subpar major-league baseball player. After his baseball career was over, he moved to the broadcasting booth, where he became a legend. Not only was he legendary in broadcasting circles, but his deprecating humor and infectious attitude helped him become a mainstay in advertising, even helping him land a role on a successful television series. Uecker passed away Thursday at the age of 90. A true classic and a great ambassador for the sport. He will be greatly missed.

COURTESY: MSN

TIP OF THE DAY

When you are grinding and chasing what is important to you, don’t listen to criticism from people who have not done or tried what you are doing.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Teddy Roosevelt

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