Job growth--or lack of it--and the levels of unemployment continue to confuse obtuse government analysts and the Wall Street crowd.

Why? They are ignoring the dramatic effect of rapidly-increasing self-employment.

Recently, the weekly number of unemployed declined, but the number of newly-created jobs was very small. How could that happen when there were not enough new jobs created that week?

Simple. More and more people are becoming self-employed, no longer wanting, needing and even seeking jobs.

One reason: many kinds of American jobs are an endangered species. They're simply not needed any more by corporate America.

These jobs include office administrators, production/factory work, farmers and ranchers, stock clerks, sewing machine operators, mail clerks, mail machine operators, computer operators, secretaries, telemarketers, meter readers and part-time sales people.

The reasons: office technology, changes in business practices, escalating plant and factory automation, declining numbers of small farms due to acquisition, RFID technology for inventory management, offshore outsourcing, employees doing their own word processing and data entry, heavy use of email, optical scanning and voice recognition systems, and growing e-commerce and automated reordering systems.

Don't hold your breath, waiting to return to the good old days of being paid $15 to $20 per hour--plus benefits--for low tech, old fashioned office and factory work. These Happy Days will not be here again.

You have to learn more to earn more--continuously, and you must also become self-employed and attain Internet proficiency to succeed in the 21st Century.

Brain experts say we only use 5 to 10% of our brain's memory, so we all have lots of room to store new information.

What some powerful proof that globalism and the decline of jobs are permanent? The IBM worldwide Chief Procurement Officer does not work at IBM Corporate Headquarters in Armonk, NY. His office is now in China.

A recent study says that 72% of households are thinking about starting a home based business. And 73% of Americans use the Internet regularly. Most likely, there's considerable--perhaps perfect--overlap of these two groups.

Don't be left out or left behind. You, too, should be starting or expanding your home based business and becoming a proficient and prolific Internet user to build your businesses.

There's an old saying, "he who hesitates is lost." Comedian Mel Brooks changed that to "he who hesitates is poor." Mel's right!

Poverty is a deliberate choice caused by a mindset focused on lack and coasting--at your family's expense--by passively living in the past, rather than seeking today's 21st Century opportunities.

Wait no longer. Don't become an endangered species. Eagles can die off as an endangered species or soar majestically to search for more desirable places for them to flourish.

This applies to you, too. What kind of eagle do you want to be--one becoming extinct or one soaring boldly to incredible success?

The choice is yours. The best choice is self-employment.

Remember, at best, "he who hesitates is poor."