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The key part of that sentence is "in the 1930s". Civil engineering has become massively mechanised, so the vast majority of jobs in the industry are highly ski
by jdietrich 9y ago
The key part of that sentence is "in the 1930s".
Civil engineering has become massively mechanised, so the vast majority of jobs in the industry are highly skilled. A job that would have needed 200 men back in the '30s is now done by three men and a giant machine.
Make-work is make-work, however you slice it. We could choose to build bridges and roads like they did in the '30s and create millions of jobs. We could also impose vast tariffs on imported cloth and ban automatic looms, creating millions of jobs in the textile industry. Philosophically, it's no different to paying people to dig holes.
- crdoconnor 9y agoThat is not the key part. The jobs didn't get automated out of existence. They just didn't get done at all: http://uk.businessinsider.com/american-infrastructure-falling-apart-2017-2?r=US&IR=T http://uk.businessinsider.com/american-infrastructure-fallin... Severely restricted fiscal spending got converted into tax cuts for the wealthy. Necessary work didn't get done. Robots were made a convenient scapegoat for that process, probably because of their natural immunity to pitchforks. The US is getting leapfrogged by poorer countries like China on infrastructure largely because of this process.
- twobyfour 9y agoActually, they get done by 50 men watching 3 men and a giant machine, because of unions afraid of automation causing unemployment. And I say that as someone who is generally pro-union.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago> Civil engineering has become massively mechanised And yet the Empire State Building was erected in a year. Faster than any comparable modern structure.
- jdietrich 9y agoDon't tell the Chinese... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLk7L1B_fE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhLk7L1B_fE