Posted on 01/15/2013 9:35:42 AM PST by ksen
Thanks for that aside. I had not heard that about Krugman about whom anything attributable is believable.
Just goes to show once again that all good humor is based on a verity. And nothing is more side-splitting and idiotic as Krugman’s verities.
Robots will also bring the return of feather-bedding where some vestigial union custodian is sweeping up behind the Roomba Robot.
Absurd. Rising productivity means more of everything at less cost.
Government schooling doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for thoughtful work, that is work that requires thinking.
We still teach as if it were the 19th century. The teacher lecturing students, summers off and bored students sitting at desks dreaming of something better.
Here’s an excellent podcast about a Tiajuana HS grad who runs a company that builds robotic drones.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/12/chris_anderson_2.html
If you’re not as dedicated to self-improvement as a Mexican high school graduate, perhaps it’s time to move.
The fall of labor income, and the rise of capital income, has contributed to America's growing inequality.
Liberals by government action have made labor more expensive than it need be - FICA taxes cut income, but so do disability laws, regulations, agencies like the NLRB, etc.
Capital can flee for better pastures, but labor is sticky and doesn't move easily. Every additional attempt by government to fix nature, simply harms those targeted for help.
That’s Keyensian economics which as been thouroughly discredited. “Prime the pump” they love to say.
Got a problem with Dutch work ethics?
LOL...
On a more serious track, Ksen has a valid point. Because of American and European environmental regulations, we've exported much of our manufacturing base to third-world countries with little if any environmental regulation. Beijing smog is beginning to look like Pittsburgh smoke a century ago.
The short-term result is that America is loosing its historic base of well-paying manufacturing jobs held by people who want to work hard but may not have the ability to do white-collar work. There's nothing wrong with blue-collar work, a functioning economy needs both, and hard workers in blue collar positions can and should reap the fruits of their labor. The result of what is happening now with exporting of blue-collar jobs to third-world countries is that we're becoming a bifurcated economy with jobs growing mostly on the upper-level and lower-level of the wage scale, not the middle.
The long-term consequences of losing our manufacturing base could be horrific for America, in ways much worse than economic problems.
Losing our manufacturing base makes us captive to nations like China. If China becomes a functioning democracy because of the lure of capitalism -- historically, economic freedom has led to political freedom -- the results may not be that bad. Unproductive companies and countries deserve to suffer the results of their foolish decisions.
The real problem is if China continues to grow economically, does not become politically free, and decides to stamp out freedom elsewhere as a threat to its own control of its own society. We're giving China the ability to do that by own own foolish decisions.
“Robots will also bring the return of feather-bedding where some vestigial union custodian is sweeping up behind the Roomba Robot.”
Much like the railroad unions did in a number of ways at one time.
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