Our roots: Today's coffee...

Today, I drink 16 ounces of Seattle's Best Hazelnut coffee in a paper cup all by myself in my office. Outside it is 39 degs F. Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon, according to weather forecasters. Another proposal to write today. Finished and submitted proposals related to podcasting and economic and demographic analysis. Write proposals today for a workforce development certificate program and to fund our informationmarket work. Give a presentation about regional economic data to people from the Schindler Group, the elevator and escalator company. Must prep.  Everything is going well, but , as in all of life, you worry that you might have the words, but never learn the tune. 

Passmore on Thanksgiving Day in Pittsburgh...

A picture that I took with my cell phone at my son and daughter-in-law's house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thanksgiving Day:

Just after dinner at my daughter and son-in-law's house. The dinner included turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, bread, a vegetarian pie, stuffing, yams, cheesecake, and apple pie.  I look happy because my life, at  58 years old, is pretty good.

Ponies on the Penn State campus...

A couple of pictures that I took with my cell phone of a herd of ponies on the Penn State campus.

As far as I can see, the ponies have been on campus since last spring.

Busy writing proposals...

I have been busy writing proposals for Penn State Outreach's Economic and Workforce Development Thematic Initiative Fund. Finished a proposal on podcasting commentaries on Pennsylvania labor force data and initiatives. Also finished a proposal on analyzing and forecasting Pennsylvania demography and economy. Will finish another today on the creation of a workforce development certificate program. Will help with a proposal for getting teachers experience in the workplace. Then, with any time remaining, I will write a proposal to support our work in economic information markets.

Oh, Canada....

A recent Slashdot article indicated that the Canadian government is announcing a C$700 million initiative to help skilled workers stay in Canada and become citizens.

With all of the worry expressed about immigration into the U.S., people should remember that immigration is a useful source of supply of human capital to both ends of the skill requirement distribution. Low skill jobs often go wanting. Immigrants use low skill jobs as a stepping stone to stability and movement from dependency. What's wrong with that? Americans often do not seem to be willing to invest the time and effort to acquire skills required at the scientific and technical ends of the human capital distribution. What's wrong for American with immigration of high skill workers? Why do we fear immigration? What is there that we should not share? What rewards are we missing by excluding immigrants?