And yet, people being human, the ability to automate a job doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll choose for that automation for that job.
Fast food delivery was automated over a century ago by the Automat, and in the industry, this automation trend died by the 1970s. While there’s a large number of things robots can do, there are times when people are the preferred choice.
I’m pretty sanguine about the idea of a “job” by 2100, because I think that by then the economy will be unrecognizable, and almost no one will have jobs as we see them today.
But in the short-term, I don’t think robots will just come in and take over.
I thought it was a great post, and I agree, somehow we’ve all been programmed to work against our own best interests and quarrel amongst each other instead of focusing our ire where it actually belongs. I can’t believe an entire generation of people fell for trickle-down economics. It is to laugh, except it is to cry.
Excellent OP, Askthepizzaguy. Thanks for the link to the history of MW; that was an excellent & concise summation.
Yes, Americans have been bamboozled into acting against their best interests for decades now and since I’ve already predicted that Mr. Trump will be our next President, I’d have to say that IMO the trend shows no signs of abating.
As we move towards a post-scarcity society, I’m anticipating a lot of strife being caused by the fact that there just won’t be jobs for people to do but there will be increasing numbers of people. I don’t think we’ll make that transition smoothly
Your boss is owned by his boss, who is owned by his boss, who is owned by the owner of the company, who then answers to a board of directors who in turn have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the shareholders. You know the retired schoolteacher down the street who depends on the mutual fund in her 401K (actually 403b) to live on.
Did you read the OP (yeah, I know) and what his recommendation is? He says companies can simply raise prices in order to pay their employees more and not take a hit in profit. How does “we the people” feel about that? Sounds like “subsidizing” either way. The main difference is that the subsiding is regressive when done per the OP’s plan.
MW is stupid and those who support it are either evil or stupid. You know why people make MW? Because their skills are so poor that they aren’t even worth MW and are only paid that because the government mandates it. There are better methods of forcible redistribution.
And that is a prime example of stupid. The government is subsidizing the individual. It’s not Wal-Mart’s fault that the only skill you have in life is hiding from customers at $10/hr. It’s not Wal-Mart’s fault you have 7 children you can’t afford. That’s the problem in America today. Advocating personal responsibility is hate speech.
Sometimes circumstances put you in a situation where you have to take a job that is near home because you can’t drive to work. Sometimes there are higher paying jobs, but the housing close to those jobs are out of your price range. If you have a low credit rating some companies won’t hire you. If you do find a job that pays more and within your travel range you have to compete with all the other poor shlubs going after the same job…and more than likely you will have to take time off from your current job to get interviewed(if your application is one of the few that isn’t round-filed, that is), and if you do this too often you’ll have all the time in the world to look for work because your ass will be fired.
So tell me, is everyone capable of building themselves up through education and becoming engineers and DBAs? No? Then we need jobs for those people too that will support them.
Will the job market provide engineering and DBA jobs for all of those people? HAS IT EVER??? No, it won’t. Perfectly qualified people go wanting. And it gets a lot worse when the economy isn’t perfect. It’s a rather rude and patently false idea that your whole philosophy is based on.
You’re citing your own anger at ‘those people’ not being good enough. Sorry, that’s the stupid (and evil) part. Your malfunction and lack of humanity doesn’t make the problem “everyone else”. It makes the problem you, and people like you.
Everyone should be able to make a decent living, no matter who or what they are. The right wing attitude you have is that it is all the fault of these people and they deserve what they get in life. That it isn’t their employer’s fault that they’re all worthless.
Clue: They’re not worthless. They’re Human, and just as valuable as you and I.
Without their employees, Walmart doesn’t exist. If they (and you) have so little respect for these people as to call them worthless, then Walmart has a serious existential problem that starts in the mindset of their wealthy owners and managers.
And without paying middle class wages, America is not a strong, First World nation.
It is only hate speech when there is such clear hate and anger behind it.
I am truly sorry that you’re such an anger-ridden, whiny little asshole who is so terribly warped by the idea that other people might need to earn a living when they’re so much less than you see in yourself.
Economically they are not as valuable as me. Paycheck proves it. But I get your point. I’m an advocate of a basic income. I think MW is counterproductive. I think basic income might be able to do what MW intended to do without the negative job destroying effects. Basic income would be for citizen only though.