Posted on 01/11/2014 5:46:53 AM PST by killermosquito
The problem with the economy is that it used to take 100 people 8 hours to create a widget. Now a 100 widgets can be created by 5 people in 1 hour. We have too many people to create the number of widgets that are needed so widget manufacturers don't need to hire more people.
Unfortunately, widget manufacturers have discovered that people in other countries can make widgets too. And they can ship those widgets here at less cost than the cost of paying 5 people to create a 100 widgets in an hour. The widgets aren't made as well as they used to be but no one seems to mind since the widgets cost less to buy.
Sadly, the widget retailers are beginning to learn that they can no longer hire people to sell widgets because people can buy widgets while surfing the web from the comfort of their Lazyboys.
Our only hope is that our children can learn to repair widgets or Lazyboys and that the cost of each doesn't become so low that people decide to discard their widgets and Lazyboys rather than buy new ones in which case all of our children will work in the waste removal industry.
Import tariffs. Make the process less efficient.
“in which case all of our children will work in the waste removal industry.”
Oops. My rural waste collection site is now automated with just one attendant. He thinks he’s going to be replaced by a camera system that will be used to monitor all sites from a central location. (No telling what will happen if somebody tries to leave a spiral light bulb in the wrong can. Presumably they’ll have an automated fire control system to kill remotely them.)
...If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.--Ronald Reagan
Get these politicians and thier gov out of our way!
Your explanation is overly simplistic and juvenile.
It is no less idiotic than when President Obama blamed ATMs for killing jobs in banking.
one only has to look at China to see what happens to every upstart nation....the wages do not remain low enough to justify manufacturing there....so it moves on to the next undeveloped nation. This will continue until there is greater parity across the world.
No problema-—our ‘Rat n Rino’ leaders will mandate $15/hr burger flippin jobs for all as their benevolent gift to the grateful masses.
Robots are the solution, you buy robots to create 10 times the wigets here in the same amount of time or less for a fraction of what it would cost to pay a child in China to make it and ship it back here.
Then just make sure we are the ones building the robots of tomorrow :)
Americans do not get hired in factories in Communist China or Third World Craphole India
Even an automated American factory will have to hire Americans to service and repair equipment. Also, an automated US factory will use American power and utilities to run plants. Wealth does not get redistributed out of America thru automation and streamlined production
The two dumbest groups of people are Global Warmists and Free Traders. Both use disproven theories that ignore incontrovertible facts. And Al Gore was instrumental in pushing both
I don’t have the complete solution, but I suspect the first step would be teaching the younger generation(s) how to fix things. We have two generations of Americans now that cannot repair a damn thing. In the desert, the most valuable man is not the one that sells ice, he is the one that repairs the ice maker.
Out of 100 people in your sphere;
How many can change a tire on a rim? 5?
How many can weld a broken piece of metal? 1?
How many can repair a broken water line? 2-3?
We no longer make stuff and no longer teach people how to repair the stuff we have. Our education industry teaches our kids that if they do not go to college and major in minority studies of some kind or the almighty COMPUTER SCIENCES they are doomed.
To me, this would be a good place to start.
The problem is that we are in a self-inflicted economic deep freeze caused by a Liberal Vortex of destructive policies.
And the labor and tax cost is still the same as when it took 100 people to build the widget which people cannot afford because they no longer have a job.
Buy the widgets made in the US. Even if you only employ five people, that's five people paying into our military and space program instead of China's, and it's five less people collecting unemployment that our children will have to pay for.
If government gets off of people’s backs and allows them to be free to innovate and incentivizes productive behavior there will be jobs aplenty.
The widget that took 100 people to build had a price of $100. The widgets made by 5 people cost $5. Every house in America has a widget. It’s not all bad.
The first thing we as a country need to do is recognize that we live in a competitive world. There are widget makers in Germany and China and Russia. They all want to corner the market on widgets. We have to be competitive with them. Our business environment needs to focus on being competitive. Our government and our businesses cannot be at odds with each other. We need to do a top-to-bottom review of every rule, regulation, law and government agency to ensure they are necessary and not needlessly detrimental to business. Every dollar spent by a business to meet a government rule, regulation or law is a dollar that could be spent making that company more competitive with foreign companies. Private sector jobs PRODUCE tax money. Government jobs CONSUME tax money.
Quite similar argument, yes.
Productivity gains cannot be impoverishing.
Ignored here is the fact that the machines that now assist in the making of the widgets have to be manufactured with labor content, and the cost of the goods produced goes down, freeing more capital for consumption and investment.
Technological advances are good, not bad. Period.
Get on the Internet and look up “Dark factories”. In Japan, there are factories which make items that no person enters except to fix the machines. There are many things that still require manpower, e.g., designing the machines, etc.
With respect to people in other countries making the widgets. We need to be more productive. The cost/item is what is important. Import duties could also be used. And a responsible citizentry could not buy some products made in other countries. Think shirts, pants, underwear, socks,.......
We also need cure for diseses, better energy sources, etc all of which require smart, skilled personnel.
EPA proposes restrictions for new wood stoves [Free Republic]
You’ve nailed it completely, assuming you’re Amish.
For the rest of us, there is a non-vertical demand curve.
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