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If it were true that manufacturing jobs aren't coming back (and it isn't, at least in the short term) it would still be worth it to move the supply chain back t

If it were true that manufacturing jobs aren't coming back (and it isn't, at least in the short term) it would still be worth it to move the supply chain back to the United States. If the future is automation, then lets do that automation here, get the knock on effects of automation engineering, automation maintenance and the general innovation we see in production-oriented (rather than consumption-oriented) economies and then share the generated wealth via whatever means are politically acceptable. (I favor public works via debt-free money, but I'm willing to listen to anything.) Selling our kids into debt slavery and a jobless future is not an option. The service (really, the consumption) economy is built on a mountain of unpayable debt. It has to end, but the right is too wedded to free market ideology and corporate donors, while the left is too wedded to international universalism and, strangely, mainstream academic economics.

s73ver 9y ago
Nobody is saying that we shouldn't still try to get those automated manufacturing jobs back here. Just that bringing those suppliers back here isn't going to lead to the awesome manufacturing jobs that once existed, and we're going to have to do something else to help those who are getting displaced.
- WillPostForFood 9y ago
  The jobs are even more awesome - higher skill, higher pay. Just that there are many fewer. Still worth bringing the back.
  - s73ver 9y ago
    That's what I said. But I also said that we have a LOT of people who we still need to do something for, because, as you agreed with me on, there are a lot fewer jobs. Let's say the average factory before all this started took 100 people to run (making numbers easy). Now, after all of this, and the rise of automation, how many people do you think that factory is going to need? Probably about 10% of that. And for those people, it's great, and we should try to get more manufacturing here to encourage that. BUT, we still need to have a plan for the other 90% of people who aren't going to get those high-paid, high-skilled jobs. They haven't gone away. They still have families to take care of.
    - carsongross 9y ago
      I agree entirely with you on the urgency of figuring out productive jobs for people with IQs on the left side of the bell curve. Jordan Peterson has a very good video on this[1]. I would couple this with a concern that we end (or, dare we dream, reverse) the dysgenic social policies we currently have in place (IQ is 50-80% heritable). In the short run, we need to work to move the production chain back to the united states, and that will generate some manufacturing jobs. I suspect more than the corporate-interest controlled media will say, but it almost doesn't matter if we are playing the long game for our kids. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0

s73ver 9y ago

Nobody is saying that we shouldn't still try to get those automated manufacturing jobs back here. Just that bringing those suppliers back here isn't going to lead to the awesome manufacturing jobs that once existed, and we're going to have to do something else to help those who are getting displaced.

WillPostForFood 9y ago
The jobs are even more awesome - higher skill, higher pay. Just that there are many fewer. Still worth bringing the back.
- s73ver 9y ago
  That's what I said. But I also said that we have a LOT of people who we still need to do something for, because, as you agreed with me on, there are a lot fewer jobs. Let's say the average factory before all this started took 100 people to run (making numbers easy). Now, after all of this, and the rise of automation, how many people do you think that factory is going to need? Probably about 10% of that. And for those people, it's great, and we should try to get more manufacturing here to encourage that. BUT, we still need to have a plan for the other 90% of people who aren't going to get those high-paid, high-skilled jobs. They haven't gone away. They still have families to take care of.
  - carsongross 9y ago
    I agree entirely with you on the urgency of figuring out productive jobs for people with IQs on the left side of the bell curve. Jordan Peterson has a very good video on this[1]. I would couple this with a concern that we end (or, dare we dream, reverse) the dysgenic social policies we currently have in place (IQ is 50-80% heritable). In the short run, we need to work to move the production chain back to the united states, and that will generate some manufacturing jobs. I suspect more than the corporate-interest controlled media will say, but it almost doesn't matter if we are playing the long game for our kids. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0