The Trip

I graduate in a little over four months. I have no professional job lined up for after I graduate, which is fine. I will just be with the other college graduates that don't have a job in the field they studied. There is only one solution, a trip!
The trip will be heading out west and I will be doing it with my lovely girlfriend, Steph. My hope is to do some backpacking, climbing and seeing some old friends along the way. The farthest in planning that we have gotten is starting in Cincinnati, hit up Colorado, Idaho, Portland and Seattle. It will be a great break from school and working two jobs this past year. Hopefully I will come back and have a career utilizing geography.

Dayton and Manufacturing

For most of this decade we have heard that job losses in the manufacturing sector has grown and what was once a proud job to have has become a job to fear. It is tragic that many people have loss their jobs and in return, have put their families and themselves in economic harm. This is extremely relevant in Detroit, but also (mostly known to Ohioans) is the city of Dayton. Dayton last year loss its only 500-Fortune company, NCR (National Cash Register) to Georgia. Why? Because Georgia could provide economic incentives that Dayton could not provide. This is the same with manufacturing jobs being shipped internationally. The labor market is too expensive in the Rust Belt for manufacturing to operate on a profitable scale. Can someone be mad that a company moves in order to survive? A company is like a biological organism such as a human. When your are cornered by death, do we just accept? No and neither will a company accept its own death.
So whats the solution? Simple, attract new industries into the area, but don't forget about the little guy. Big companies will bring in tax revenue and jobs, but it is the little guy that will keep it going! Most of our firms (businesses) in the United States is small guys, so a city needs to develop an economic plan to foster the growth in the small business. If the business is bringing outside money in then it needs to be expanded to bring more. If money is coming from the outside than that means more money coming into the community to be circulated inside the community.
Cities also need to look ahead and at different economic sectors. As mention earlier, our manufacturing sector is becoming kaput! So whats the next big thing? Dayton is developing a tech town in order to establish an IT sector. Will this work? Lets hope, but the city needs to look at not bring in big firms, because they are mostly established were they are at. The city needs to bring the little guy in to compete, because its usually the little guys that bring the latest, cutting edge design. Think about Microsoft vs Apple and Google.

First Post

Hello World,

I hope everyone is enjoying their winter (those who are in the northern hemisphere). Its been raining lately, but I have not had the chance to wear my new rain jacket in the rain. I have had the chance to bike on my new bike though. I just made a flickr account. The pictures are being run on a slide show. The url is flickr.com/photos/diningjr.
Enjoy,
Joe