"'Premium processing' of H-1B visas, which allowed skilled workers to pay extra to request faster approval to work in the U.S., will no longer be available starting April 3, immigration authorities announced. That basically means all applicants will have to wait the standard period to see if they have won the "lottery," without the option to pay an extra $1,225 filing fee for guaranteed answer after 15 days. [...] Companies like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple have been among the top recipients of H-1B visas in past years, New York Times data analysis shows, aside from a massive swath of visas issued to consulting firms that are known to outsource. " -Anita Balakrishnan CNBC

_{This article written by Anita Balakrishnan from CNBC,  gives a description about H-1B which is a expedited temporary work visa issued to skilled foreign workers. The article talks about how the Trump Administration is changing it up by making the immigrants wait longer and having to pay lots of money to try an expedite the already expedited visa. Trump is doing this because he thinks companies should Americans the jobs instead. Trump is trying to help the current job crisis just like during the Great Recession where lots of Americans were unemployed. Ms.Balakrishnan seems a little skeptical of this mentioning that lots of companies are mad at Trump and what he has done. Finally Anita mentions that this order is supposed to be set in place at the same time all the H-1B application are getting from lots of companies, so it is going to be interesting on who they let work and who they have wait. It's going to be chaos!}

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What's good for the economy may not necessarily be good for you -- and vice-versa. When the economy is uncertain, it's time to get defensive. The only way to do that is to increase your income and reduce your spending. That way, you'll have money to reduce your debt. After that, make sure you have a cushion, and then build up your savings. The best investment is still a diversified portfolio.

If possible, make sure you have a college degree. Education is the great divide in this society -- the unemployment rate for college grads is half the average. Although housing is historically cheap, as are interest rates, only buy a house you can easily afford. The smaller the house, the less furniture you'll have to buy to fill it. The economy will probably avoid another Great Depression, but either way, you'll be in a better position to weather it.

When looking back at the American economic timeline, there are many themes that prevail to today's society. From 1877 to 1917 America experienced huge industrialization improvement and advancement, this age would be known as American Progressivism and The Gilded Age. In 1908 Henry Ford created an assembly line that revolutionized productivity in the American industry specifically one huge change in the manufacturing of automobiles. A car that once took 12 hours to manufacture drastically changed to 2.5. 

So how does this time period connect to anything today? 

Well just like with the invention of the assembly line, augmented reality is said to change our futures in a similar way to the assembly line and the car. 

Glasses that once took time to open up your schedule to go to the store, time to try them all on only to realize you have to shop online for the pair that are out of stock. Scientists predict that this new innovation of augmented reality will completely change the way we are used to operating in society. With augmented reality glasses can be virtually tried on and quickly selected without even having to leave the house. 

“On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists” (Kevin Bonsor). 

Just like the assembly line and advancements in technology back then got people excited about cars and being able to select them, augmented reality is a new innovation that is getting everyone excited especially because of the chance to online shop like never before and perhaps find the “dream dress” for a formal event in just minutes. 

So you see how progressivism back then is also happening in today’s society with augmented reality, but how does this all connect to The Gilded Age? 

Well, in order to answer this we must go back to the definition of “Gilded”. Gilded means covered thinly with gold paint. The way I like to think about it is something that appears to be amazing but has its challenges under that “thin paint layer”. 

Augmented reality while it is the next step from the technology we now have (just like the assembly line was the “next step”) and seems like it will make everything function smoothly, what are the downsides? 

Kevin continues, “This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell.” I don’t know about you, but this gave me chills to read. Although technology has it’s benefits, how much is too much innovation? Ford’s assembly line also had its negatives hidden under the major industrialization that was rapidly consuming the country. Wages were very competitive in the assembly lines and the authentic craftsmanship of individual manufacturing was lost with the innovation of the line. Both of these things are gilded. Although they seem to be sparkling with gold because they are new inventions, the layer of “paint” is still so thin. 

As technology is increasing rapidly today, we are reminded of the Progressivism and Gilded Age in the United States where things are rapidly being produced and innovated but we then should ask ourselves how beneficial they are.