5 ms·

So you’re picking low prices and an UNpaid workforce - cutting a workforce by 90% but doubling pay for the remaining 10% doesn’t improve a local or domestic eco

So you’re picking low prices and an UNpaid workforce - cutting a workforce by 90% but doubling pay for the remaining 10% doesn’t improve a local or domestic economy.

1123581321 4y ago
That really depends on whether the skilled workers and automation tech result in product improvements, new products, new industries, etc.
LeifCarrotson 4y ago
There's plenty of work to go around: workers today are no less busy but far more productive than they were before any automation. It's just that instead of a bunch of farmers and a handful of blacksmiths we've found more things to do and have careers that span the gamut from yoga instructors to robot technicians.
chrisseaton 4y ago
Yes it does - those people can do something else productive, the US gets the tools it needs to build other things in their economy, and the US has resilience in case of future (extremely likely and possibly fundamental) supply chain disruptions.
chongli 4y ago
Just a few centuries ago upwards of 90% of the population worked in farming. Since then, multiple revolutions in agricultural yield and automation have reduced this to less than 2%. Yet we do not have 80% unemployment. How is that?
randomdata 4y ago
> UNpaid workforce Automation is far from unpaid. At very least it expects you to give it food (electricity, gasoline, etc.), shelter, and healthcare (repairs and maintenance). Generally the same things that humans expect from you. Automation is significant not because it is unpaid, but because it can often do much more work for the same amount of pay.
alkonaut 4y ago
So long as you are producing consumer goods for the masses and not say hand-built sports cars, I don't think the alternative of a large well paid workforce to do what a large less well paid workforce can do is an alternative. Having 10 skilled people and 100 robots do what 1000 people would otherwise do isn't some defeat, it's fantastic. Productivity is what makes people rich in the long term.
xboxnolifes 4y ago
That's like calling me unpaid because agricultural technological advancements have reduced the number of necessary farmers and allowed software jobs (and may others) to open up and pay me. Just because a single factory, company, or industry reduces the number of employed people doesn't mean they are unpaid. Technological advancement is not zero-sum.

So you’re picking low prices and an UNpaid workforce - cutting a workforce by 90% but doubling pay for the remaining 10% doesn’t improve a local or domestic economy.

1123581321 4y ago

That really depends on whether the skilled workers and automation tech result in product improvements, new products, new industries, etc.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago

There's plenty of work to go around: workers today are no less busy but far more productive than they were before any automation. It's just that instead of a bunch of farmers and a handful of blacksmiths we've found more things to do and have careers that span the gamut from yoga instructors to robot technicians.

chrisseaton 4y ago

Yes it does - those people can do something else productive, the US gets the tools it needs to build other things in their economy, and the US has resilience in case of future (extremely likely and possibly fundamental) supply chain disruptions.

chongli 4y ago

Just a few centuries ago upwards of 90% of the population worked in farming. Since then, multiple revolutions in agricultural yield and automation have reduced this to less than 2%. Yet we do not have 80% unemployment. How is that?

randomdata 4y ago

> UNpaid workforce Automation is far from unpaid. At very least it expects you to give it food (electricity, gasoline, etc.), shelter, and healthcare (repairs and maintenance). Generally the same things that humans expect from you. Automation is significant not because it is unpaid, but because it can often do much more work for the same amount of pay.

alkonaut 4y ago

So long as you are producing consumer goods for the masses and not say hand-built sports cars, I don't think the alternative of a large well paid workforce to do what a large less well paid workforce can do is an alternative. Having 10 skilled people and 100 robots do what 1000 people would otherwise do isn't some defeat, it's fantastic. Productivity is what makes people rich in the long term.

xboxnolifes 4y ago

That's like calling me unpaid because agricultural technological advancements have reduced the number of necessary farmers and allowed software jobs (and may others) to open up and pay me. Just because a single factory, company, or industry reduces the number of employed people doesn't mean they are unpaid. Technological advancement is not zero-sum.