4 ms·

The future of work looks like becoming a relentless rat race

12 points by edward 11y ago

hwstar 11y ago
"How the hell have we come to this ugly pass where earning a living takes up so much nervous energy and angst, in what is a rich First World country? Now some of it is due to globalisation and the fact that two thirds of the world (the Communist countries and what used to be known as the Third World) were largely outside the capitalist system, and now this has changed the water is finding its own level. Living standards in the First World will have to fall until they meet rising living standards elsewhere." 1. We are going backwards, at some point we will be back to the labour standards of the 18th and 19th centuries. All of the labour laws we won during the end of the Great Depression are gradually being taken away. 2. The author states that FI people will be sitting on the drain plug as the Non-FI people circle the drain. If history rhymes with the French Revolution, the FI people may be in danger unless they are well armed, or in control of the army. As one of my old bosses once said: "I'll take your chest of Krugerands with my guns" 3. As the song "We won't be fooled again" by The Who states: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". It is human nature for Psychopaths to rise to the top. Until this is fixed, nothing will change.
NotSammyHagar 11y ago
I don't think FI (financially independent) is the right term to divide the world. Why not go with rich? Aren't all retired people FI by definition? I don't think that poor guy down the block will think he should rob grandma, especially if she's barely making it on US social security. I do agree with the concept that we'll have decreasing need for humans working, and wages should trend to drop because of that. We will almost certainly have to move to a guaranteed living income, as some Scandinavian are flirting with. The other trend I struggle to understand is that there are sectors of the economy with persistent labor shortages, but little clear direction. Two areas: advanced and computer operated manufacturing, welding, and software engineers. The us has really poor educational opportunities to get people into the manufacturing jobs we have, and those that look good for the future in hi tech manu. seem to be the most in demand. Secondly there is of course the global shortage of programmers. This not for "basic IT" really, where someone can "just" use packaged software to build an application - that seems to be only under a small amount of pressure to find people. I'm thinking that it's the people that write software from scratch, software engineers. Why isn't everyone who is technical/math/scientific and needs pursing this? In Seattle there are more than 10,000 open jobs in this area, all with great money, benefits. Not everyone is really able to do these two kinds of jobs. But please consider getting training in one of these areas if you are trying to figure out the future.

12 points by edward 11y ago

"How the hell have we come to this ugly pass where earning a living takes up so much nervous energy and angst, in what is a rich First World country? Now some of it is due to globalisation and the fact that two thirds of the world (the Communist countries and what used to be known as the Third World) were largely outside the capitalist system, and now this has changed the water is finding its own level. Living standards in the First World will have to fall until they meet rising living standards elsewhere." 1. We are going backwards, at some point we will be back to the labour standards of the 18th and 19th centuries. All of the labour laws we won during the end of the Great Depression are gradually being taken away. 2. The author states that FI people will be sitting on the drain plug as the Non-FI people circle the drain. If history rhymes with the French Revolution, the FI people may be in danger unless they are well armed, or in control of the army. As one of my old bosses once said: "I'll take your chest of Krugerands with my guns" 3. As the song "We won't be fooled again" by The Who states: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". It is human nature for Psychopaths to rise to the top. Until this is fixed, nothing will change.

NotSammyHagar 11y ago

I don't think FI (financially independent) is the right term to divide the world. Why not go with rich? Aren't all retired people FI by definition? I don't think that poor guy down the block will think he should rob grandma, especially if she's barely making it on US social security. I do agree with the concept that we'll have decreasing need for humans working, and wages should trend to drop because of that. We will almost certainly have to move to a guaranteed living income, as some Scandinavian are flirting with. The other trend I struggle to understand is that there are sectors of the economy with persistent labor shortages, but little clear direction. Two areas: advanced and computer operated manufacturing, welding, and software engineers. The us has really poor educational opportunities to get people into the manufacturing jobs we have, and those that look good for the future in hi tech manu. seem to be the most in demand. Secondly there is of course the global shortage of programmers. This not for "basic IT" really, where someone can "just" use packaged software to build an application - that seems to be only under a small amount of pressure to find people. I'm thinking that it's the people that write software from scratch, software engineers. Why isn't everyone who is technical/math/scientific and needs pursing this? In Seattle there are more than 10,000 open jobs in this area, all with great money, benefits. Not everyone is really able to do these two kinds of jobs. But please consider getting training in one of these areas if you are trying to figure out the future.