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HIGHLIGHTS: Driverless trucks already on the road in two dozen states California Teamsters sue, contending 200,000 jobs to be lost in that state Blue collar not insulated from automation Guidance industry has to get humble *******************************************************   In the comments  to The Wall Street Journal article on driverless trucks there are jokes about other blue-collar lines of work which have also gone poof. That's because of technology.  They include saddle makers, elevator operators and switchboard operators. (Regarding the latter, Ernestine the Operator probably had to take early retirement.)  And that was fast. Yes, autonomous trucks have actually become a reality. So much so that the California Teamsters is suing the California DMV for allowing this to happen without adequate research into the economic impacts. The lawsuit contends 200,000 big-rig driving jobs in the state eventually will be lost.  Just about six years ago I was adv...

  Thanks to the creation of platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi it's now possible to bet on the outcome of jury trials. The Wall Street Journal reports on the wagering for the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Of course, that generates plenty of issues about ethics, insider-trading kind of sharing of information among family members and the integrity of the whole justice system. But, the reality is that prediction markets are only a new wrinkle on the almost infinite type of betting that takes place in the legal sector. For example, I recall an article by David Sanford of Sanford Heisler explaining the criteria for the law firm's accepting a case. That's about betting that it could achieve a positive outcome. Sure, the firm tends to be altruistic. But come on, it's a business. In addition, the firm has a branding for wins to protect.  Some may recall how much had been at stake in 2011 when the class action "concussion" lawsuit was filed against the NFL.  Shou...

  It looks like a good day ahead for Boomers who keep looking and looking at their financial state of affairs. Dow Jones E-mini Futures Future 52,487.00 +377.00 +0.72% But a hardening situation is this: the inability to spend.  There's even a new acronym for that. It's FORO, standing for Fear Of Running Out. Actually, up to 30% experience angst, not elation, when spending money. As The Atlantic puts it, there's been no blowing funds on bucket-list items. Not been around the world? Probably never will be.  All this is so understandable. After all, the 100-year life has become more common. Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett and William Shatner are all in their late 90s and active.  I'm among them the FORUs. The oldest of the Boomers I get it that I have become my running around shutting off the lights Depression era parents. I add the microwave, which didn't exist for most of them. Unplugging it when not in use prevents what's known as vampire power draw. That sa...

  The largest law firm in the world Kirkland & Ellis made headlines when announcing it would no longer disclose financial data.  The buzz was that move was generated by increasing client discontent with high legal bills.  Smirk. The reality should have always been that it was nutty for a law firm - that is, not a public company primarily accountable to investors - to crow about metrics such as Profits Per Equity Partner. Any business-savvy client would start connecting the dots and maybe begin comparison-shopping. Sure, a law firm should be signaling growth, but not through the PPEP lens.  Yes, on the one hand, a firm had to be  positioned and packaged as in a high-growth mode. Way back in 2021, Paul, Weiss partner/thought leader Brad Karp hammered in Bloomberg Law that firms not on a growth trajectory could actually go out of business. The categories for that include the number of star partners, international expansion and creation/scaling of practices al...

Professional anonymous network Reddit used to be the classic play-out of misguided empathy. Typical had been the post: The rug was pulled from under you. You lost your job. And you've been jobless so long that unemployment compensation has run out and soon enough will be your savings. Bro, we feel for you. Recently there's been a paradigm shift to raw pragmatism. Here is the  Reddit post on the question of whether to take a pay cut. And here is the kind of collective response: "It is not a pay cut if you are currently making zero. Bring in some money while you look for other opportunities. Adjust your budget to get rid of any expenses that are not absolutely necessary." Get it: Since you aren't making any money now and haven't for too long, there's no pay cut per se. There's the reality of a low starting salary at a job. If you're a hustler and alert to opportunity, that should be on short time. Here's a comment which received 78 upvotes, so f...

  For those of us servicing the legal sector (I coach/provide tarot readings for lawyers) there was a posting on LinkedIn which seemed a must-read. It was by Reuters Legal reporter Sara Randazzo. It referred to an article  she had researched and written. It was about how giant corporation AT&T is leveraging AI to reduce its use of outside law firms. How would this impact hiring/job security at law firms?  Yes, Randazzo did provide a brief summary of the published article. For more, we had to click the link. Horror. The article, like so many on LinkedIn and other platforms, was behind a paywall. A subscription was required.  Put it bluntly, is this kind of rollout of information/perspective a kind of bait and switch. There is an enticing headline. There is a summary drawing us in further. And then, we can't access the coverage without paying the "toll."  Sure, we should pay for content. Media is a business, not a charity. But few of us, especially the self-em...