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Sure, but the robot truck owners are also getting 40K additional per year, no? Or if they're not completely capturing the marginal difference between a human dr

Sure, but the robot truck owners are also getting 40K additional per year, no? Or if they're not completely capturing the marginal difference between a human driver and a robot driver, someone elsewhere is, right? Maybe the 40K labor savings is actually offset by a 37K a year replacement to the labor force, who also now enjoy lower prices on all shipped goods. (Assuming there is still real competition in shipping)

bob33212 6y ago
The 40k goes to the profits of the shipping companies, which goes to the dividends of the stock owners, who are generally spending the dividends on investing in more stock. In theory shipping prices would go down immediately, but in the real world it could take years for competitors to force the industry to lower costs by the full 40k.
- function_seven 6y ago
  I'm a bit out of my depth here (I always am when it comes to macroeconomics or monetary theory). Let's say that the equity holders of the various shipping companies keep the $40k savings all for themselves, and use those profits to buy more stock. Isn't that still going to drive inflation? The price of shares will continue to rise solely due to more money chasing them. And every buyer of stock is giving money to a seller of stock on the other side, who will then do what with that money? If it's capitalizing a new company, then the money will be spent into the economy. If it's buying existing shares, then the seller will now have cash to spend. Either way, the money is still an active participant in the money supply. Meanwhile the government is creating new money each year to offset the salary losses of the displaced truckers. What used to be a 40K transfer from employer to employee is now a $40k diversion to other uses at the employer's end, and $40k of brand new money on the employee's end.
  - wz1000 6y ago
    From the article > The 30% who are working under federal jobs programs will have working lives completely decoupled from the workings of the market. The movements of markets – particularly financial markets – will be irrelevant to everyone except for a group of weird, chart-watching, twitchy nerds who fulfill the boring job of capital allocation to an increasingly irrelevant section of the economy. And earlier > That money is mostly chasing the same goods that were available before the crisis (rent, groceries, and debt service) so it’s not crowding out other buyers and causing inflation (inflation occurs when more money chases the same goods, so buyers get into bidding wars that drive up prices – when the same quantity of money is chasing the same quantity of goods, there’s no inflation).
- cameronbrown 6y ago
  Market competition will force prices down long-term. If they're not, that's a problem and there's probably an anti-trust suit somewhere that needs implementing. Also - investing in stock isn't a bad thing, because it's redistributing capital to entrepreneurs who are taking risks to make things better for everyone.
zumachase 6y ago
Another commenter rightly noted that inflation is only partially driven by supply of money. The other factor is velocity of money, which is how quickly money is “recycled” within the economy. If that 40k is now going to investors who have a much lower propensity to spend it (likely) then velocity drops and so does inflation.

bob33212 6y ago

The 40k goes to the profits of the shipping companies, which goes to the dividends of the stock owners, who are generally spending the dividends on investing in more stock. In theory shipping prices would go down immediately, but in the real world it could take years for competitors to force the industry to lower costs by the full 40k.

function_seven 6y ago
I'm a bit out of my depth here (I always am when it comes to macroeconomics or monetary theory). Let's say that the equity holders of the various shipping companies keep the $40k savings all for themselves, and use those profits to buy more stock. Isn't that still going to drive inflation? The price of shares will continue to rise solely due to more money chasing them. And every buyer of stock is giving money to a seller of stock on the other side, who will then do what with that money? If it's capitalizing a new company, then the money will be spent into the economy. If it's buying existing shares, then the seller will now have cash to spend. Either way, the money is still an active participant in the money supply. Meanwhile the government is creating new money each year to offset the salary losses of the displaced truckers. What used to be a 40K transfer from employer to employee is now a $40k diversion to other uses at the employer's end, and $40k of brand new money on the employee's end.
- wz1000 6y ago
  From the article > The 30% who are working under federal jobs programs will have working lives completely decoupled from the workings of the market. The movements of markets – particularly financial markets – will be irrelevant to everyone except for a group of weird, chart-watching, twitchy nerds who fulfill the boring job of capital allocation to an increasingly irrelevant section of the economy. And earlier > That money is mostly chasing the same goods that were available before the crisis (rent, groceries, and debt service) so it’s not crowding out other buyers and causing inflation (inflation occurs when more money chases the same goods, so buyers get into bidding wars that drive up prices – when the same quantity of money is chasing the same quantity of goods, there’s no inflation).
cameronbrown 6y ago
Market competition will force prices down long-term. If they're not, that's a problem and there's probably an anti-trust suit somewhere that needs implementing. Also - investing in stock isn't a bad thing, because it's redistributing capital to entrepreneurs who are taking risks to make things better for everyone.

zumachase 6y ago

Another commenter rightly noted that inflation is only partially driven by supply of money. The other factor is velocity of money, which is how quickly money is “recycled” within the economy. If that 40k is now going to investors who have a much lower propensity to spend it (likely) then velocity drops and so does inflation.