4 ms·

Eh we've heard that song before but it rarely turns out to be true. Rust belt cities didn't transform with new kinds of jobs and industries. They just crumble

Eh we've heard that song before but it rarely turns out to be true. Rust belt cities didn't transform with new kinds of jobs and industries. They just crumbled and fell apart. Absent coordinated action by government to reorient economies as these new technologies take over, I fully expect wealth inequality to only get worse and for more and more white collar folks to be left behind. That's just wealth concentrating capitalism in action, which is inevitable when left to its own devices.

Pet_Ant 4y ago
They are saying new jobs will show up. Not that they will be available for those displaced or even in America. Just that jobs will show up. "Jobs" is often callous or disingenuous because when they say it, they know it's not how people generally use it.
- kranke155 4y ago
  This is a common fiction trope that’s never been demonstrated in reality as far as I know. Everyone uses the bank tellers example and ignores multiple reports showing the leading cause of de industrialisation in the US was automation, followed by “free trade”. It’s all nonsense unless you show evidence, and the evidence points to the contrary. What we have is a move of society towards “service” jobs, but service jobs exist in two different spheres - high wage (IT) and low wage (Starbucks). Having lived in the UK under a so called post industrial society, de industrialisation did exactly what people like Vaclav Smil say it does - it creates a society with no middle class.
rcarr 4y ago
> Rust belt cities didn't transform with new kinds of jobs and industries. They just crumbled and fell apart. The interesting part is that the artistic jobs are mainly in the tier 1 cities e.g New York, LA, London etc. I'm sure there's historical precedent for tier 1 cities having their industries undermined but it'll be interesting to see what happens considering these areas tend to suck up the most government spending (or London does at least in the UK). Personally, I think the current generation of kids have got their hearts set on being content creators and they're going to be in for a rough ride. The next generation are probably going to grow up amidst the devastation and turn to high demand, high skill blue collar jobs in droves e.g construction, plumbing, electricians, engineers, nursing etc and with a bit of luck we might actually end up fixing some of the gargantuan problems we've got as a society such as the housing crisis. Kids with construction skills probably aren't going to be daunted buying dilapidated houses and making them liveable again or developing new ones.
MattPalmer1086 4y ago
It's probably true in the long term, but not in any kind of time frame that matters to those displaced.

Pet_Ant 4y ago

They are saying new jobs will show up. Not that they will be available for those displaced or even in America. Just that jobs will show up. "Jobs" is often callous or disingenuous because when they say it, they know it's not how people generally use it.

kranke155 4y ago
This is a common fiction trope that’s never been demonstrated in reality as far as I know. Everyone uses the bank tellers example and ignores multiple reports showing the leading cause of de industrialisation in the US was automation, followed by “free trade”. It’s all nonsense unless you show evidence, and the evidence points to the contrary. What we have is a move of society towards “service” jobs, but service jobs exist in two different spheres - high wage (IT) and low wage (Starbucks). Having lived in the UK under a so called post industrial society, de industrialisation did exactly what people like Vaclav Smil say it does - it creates a society with no middle class.

rcarr 4y ago

> Rust belt cities didn't transform with new kinds of jobs and industries. They just crumbled and fell apart. The interesting part is that the artistic jobs are mainly in the tier 1 cities e.g New York, LA, London etc. I'm sure there's historical precedent for tier 1 cities having their industries undermined but it'll be interesting to see what happens considering these areas tend to suck up the most government spending (or London does at least in the UK). Personally, I think the current generation of kids have got their hearts set on being content creators and they're going to be in for a rough ride. The next generation are probably going to grow up amidst the devastation and turn to high demand, high skill blue collar jobs in droves e.g construction, plumbing, electricians, engineers, nursing etc and with a bit of luck we might actually end up fixing some of the gargantuan problems we've got as a society such as the housing crisis. Kids with construction skills probably aren't going to be daunted buying dilapidated houses and making them liveable again or developing new ones.

MattPalmer1086 4y ago

It's probably true in the long term, but not in any kind of time frame that matters to those displaced.