Originally Posted by Le Jacquelope do with the unemployed who spend years without a job? And there are quite a few of them now (to put it lightly).
I have an idea. How about this. We have roads that are being replaced with asphalt, crumbling bridges, and an alternative energy infrastructure that needs to be built..
The people today are just as smart as people in the 1930’s. There is no reason why people today cant work digging a ditch or building a road or planting a forest just like the people of the 1930’s learned how to do it.
A guy with a masters in biochemistry can dig a hole or pour concrete same as a high school graduate.
Hey, if I can replace you with a robot, computer program or an Indian guy who will work for 1/5 your wage, your job IS as obsolete as the buggy whip.
Yes, people still want cars and computers and whatnot. Should we pay people to crank out cars and computers that no one wants to buy because they are too expensive?
And what if the “competetive advantage” is having a shit-ton of people who are willing to work for almost nothing because they live in mud huts?
Whatever. I don’t need to know about your mama’s house.
Really? Because that’s a textbook example of “labour arbitrage”. And it doesn’t really address the question. What is le “competetive advantage” of which Le Jacquelope is speaking?
Which is why this all makes sense to those that have read an economics text book. For those with “street smarts” and “86% of Americans on their side” the stuff gets a little blurry. We’ve now come full circle so Le Jacquelope can start his rant all over again.
Replacing someone with a robot makes the job obsolete. Replacing someone with someone else does not make it obsolete. Some person still has to do the job for some wage.
Matter of fact, it’s not obsolete until it’s replaced by something else completely. Like, say, a car replacing the buggy whip.
Error, again. People were buying computers when they cost $3000. I was one of them and I was pretty damned poor back then. I saved up for it.
The problem is fewer computers will sell because people will actually keep them and they might also be made to last longer, too.
Good luck with them ever being able to buy anything at those wages. Computers may be cheaper but the “work for almost nothing” crowd will be killed by relatively high food prices and high energy prices - oh, I forgot. That’s conveniently not counted by arbitrary economic thinking as costs of living or inflation. Oh and those high food prices are close to killing them right now.
But hey, don’t you worry yourself about tariffs. These monster trade deficits America is running will devalue the US dollar until imports become impossibly expensive anyway. Then you can come back here and say “I won! We prevented tariffs! Hooray!” Fat lot of good that’ll do you.
Tell us again how free trade is ever going to put 16 million Americans back to work. Much less the 200 million worldwide who are out of a job.
Your rote memorized economics formulas and principles ain’t working, dude. They’re obsolete.
“Too bad for you people” is not a valid or civilized solution. You only create a class of people who no longer have any reason to support the system at all. In case you haven’t been reading the news, this “too bad for you workers” attitude is what caused so much unrest in the Middle East.
That mess out there is a worker’s rebellion. Buncha college educated working class who are sick of having no jobs. That is the future we all face.
PSSSST!!! DUDE!!! Get your disguise in place! While you’re undercover, you only call them “Democrat politicians” and “The Democrat Party” amongst known and trusted fellow Republicans!
I’d institute a system of trickle-up economics. Replace the trickle-down system entirely. I’d also ditch the WTO; in fact I’d throw a party while I did it.
I’d go back to 1950s-1970s level progressive taxation. (If you think rates during those years were “high”, consider the Beatles fled to us, not the other way around.) Slap a VAT on imports. Direct funding toward the space exploration industry which now spends $18 billion and makes back many times that in tax receipts; plus mandate, for national security reasons, that all materials be made here and all work be done here. Outlaw processing of personal financial or medical information overseas. Have “Works Councils” like they do in Germany. Have companies with over 2000 workers have half the board of directors elected by workers. By law.
I’d increase Government funding for solar projects to bring the cost down to $0.05 KWH, to compete with China’s growing subsidies. Matter of fact I might consider matching China subsidy for subsidy until they get the point and back off.
I’d also institute a nationwide academic olympics program and siphon money away from the Military Industrial Complex toward paying big awards to high-achievers to elevate them to rock star status. Money would go toward making science and innovation fairs more common and more conspicuous, with the help of corporate and Government sponsors. Kids would be inspired to tackle America’s pressing energy crisis and space exploration questions. (Don’t put too much past them - a 16 year old boy can do wonders.) Put the smart kids on the same level of prestige as the jocks. Matter of fact I might also divert money from the MIC to kids who are heavily engaged in charities, too.
Canada on the other hand would rock, and we’d have you to thank for it. Expect a bottle of maple syrup and a Celine Dion CD, assuming you have something to play it on.
Good luck buying one when you’re out of work or you’re working a minimum wage job, which is the bulk of the joke we call this economic recovery. But then this economy isn’t about all the people who get put out of work, is it? Oh, I forgot: around here, out of work = trip to Spain. :rolleyes:
That only really matters to gamers. Most others will hang onto their machines until they die, or until Windows imposes an upgrade to the latest bug-ridden bloated moneymak-er, OS.
Like I said, don’t you worry yourself about those overly-maligned tariffs. You’ve got bigger problems coming - a dollar crash.
Tell me, what is the size of BRIC’s and the third world’s exports to the US? They have all of that much to lose, at least.
We put 20 million Chinese out of work in 2009 because of our recession. Think of how many poor innocent Chinese workers will suffer when our dollar crashes.
