3 ms·

Lack of foresight is a collective trait of the human condition. It'd be interesting to see who the protestors of said outsourcing in the 80s were, and see what

Lack of foresight is a collective trait of the human condition. It'd be interesting to see who the protestors of said outsourcing in the 80s were, and see what they say now. How did they foresee it in the first place? Is the current outcome better or worse than they thought it'd be? What's their current prediction for the state of things in another 40 years? A good article topic for the journalists out there.

Theodores 7y ago
Lots of people saw it. It was obvious if your job was being outsourced or if your factory was being closed, quite apparent if no new machinery was being invested in. At the time Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were around and all of this was discussed. The predicted decline happened. There are capitalist rent seeker types that are okay with it, they also voted for the lunatic politicians. The people not so happy about it don't get to write for the capitalist newspapers giving the illusion to people with no skin in the game that 'nobody predicted this calamity'. So predictions for forty years hence? It does not work like that, does it? Back in the 1980's you just knew that if manufacturing was gone that there would be no market for locally made goods, no possibility of exporting quality stuff on the world market and that we would not be able to drive prosperity on the back of financial services forever. If you push someone over a cliff you are not sure whether they will break their neck, crack their head open or get impaled on a spike, all you know is that the outcome will not be a good one. Right now we are using far too much in the way of fossil fuels, the climate is not right and it is getting worse. I don't know how ravaged the world will be in forty years hence, all I do know is that carrying on as we do is not a good idea.
- mncharity 7y ago
  One concept that always struck me as bizarre, was "we'll move the manufacturing overseas, but the manufacturing engineering will remain in the US". Years later, I asked a Harvard economics professor about it. He said yes, he'd taught that... "the ideas were in the air" (paraphrase - it's been years). So one problem I have with much analysis of Trump populism, is its failure to recognize that subcultures doing group-think, believe absurdities, and tolerating being lied to, are a broader problem, worthy of more fundamental analysis, and an opportunity for broader remediation.

Theodores 7y ago

Lots of people saw it. It was obvious if your job was being outsourced or if your factory was being closed, quite apparent if no new machinery was being invested in. At the time Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were around and all of this was discussed. The predicted decline happened. There are capitalist rent seeker types that are okay with it, they also voted for the lunatic politicians. The people not so happy about it don't get to write for the capitalist newspapers giving the illusion to people with no skin in the game that 'nobody predicted this calamity'. So predictions for forty years hence? It does not work like that, does it? Back in the 1980's you just knew that if manufacturing was gone that there would be no market for locally made goods, no possibility of exporting quality stuff on the world market and that we would not be able to drive prosperity on the back of financial services forever. If you push someone over a cliff you are not sure whether they will break their neck, crack their head open or get impaled on a spike, all you know is that the outcome will not be a good one. Right now we are using far too much in the way of fossil fuels, the climate is not right and it is getting worse. I don't know how ravaged the world will be in forty years hence, all I do know is that carrying on as we do is not a good idea.

mncharity 7y ago
One concept that always struck me as bizarre, was "we'll move the manufacturing overseas, but the manufacturing engineering will remain in the US". Years later, I asked a Harvard economics professor about it. He said yes, he'd taught that... "the ideas were in the air" (paraphrase - it's been years). So one problem I have with much analysis of Trump populism, is its failure to recognize that subcultures doing group-think, believe absurdities, and tolerating being lied to, are a broader problem, worthy of more fundamental analysis, and an opportunity for broader remediation.