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Wages are too low to incentivize investment in automating these jobs, precisely because of illegal immigration.

digitaltrees 1y ago
What? China has dark factories now. Did their wages pass ours without anyone noticing? Please show your homework because the underlying logic seems exactly opposite of the facts.
- throwaway48476 1y ago
  In some places Chinese labor is at price parity. However the reasons why China has dark factories is government investment and an abundance of mechatronics engineers. People build factories in China because all the other factories are in China just down the road. None of this contradicts my previous comment though. We don't invest in automation because we have cheap labor. China is an aging society with a shrinking workforce. Here we have cheap labor and offload the cost to the taxpayer. Illegal immigration is just another part of corporate welfare which is why socialists like Bernie sanders used to be against it.
  - digitaltrees 1y ago
    Your counter argument clearly cuts against your initial argument. Low wages isn’t preventing automation. It’s lack of an ecosystem of similar suppliers, lack of highly trained talent and lack of government and market investment. Liberals aren’t against immigration because it is corporate welfare but because of the strain it places on the social safety net and effects on jobs but both of those could be overcome with a rational policy on special economic zones.
- thephyber 1y ago
  Chinese dark factories aren’t harvesting bruisable fruits and veggies. Dark factories are specifically selected for tasks that are easily automated with extremely high precision. Most of agriculture isn’t.
LorenPechtel 1y ago
The jobs that don't require a delicate hand are to a large degree already automated. But the robots are not up to the delicate stuff.
- remarkEon 1y ago
  >But the robots are not up to the delicate stuff. Robots did my dad's knee replacement surgery. I don't think this argument holds water anymore. Maybe if you make your claim more precise: delicate + scale. But, if that's the case, the scale problem is solved with money.
  - saagarjha 1y ago
    Robots? Or a human doctor that controlled it?
  - LorenPechtel 1y ago
    Lots of teleoperated stuff in the medical world. That's not the same as robots. There's still a skilled hand at the controls making the medical decisions.

What? China has dark factories now. Did their wages pass ours without anyone noticing? Please show your homework because the underlying logic seems exactly opposite of the facts.

throwaway48476 1y ago
In some places Chinese labor is at price parity. However the reasons why China has dark factories is government investment and an abundance of mechatronics engineers. People build factories in China because all the other factories are in China just down the road. None of this contradicts my previous comment though. We don't invest in automation because we have cheap labor. China is an aging society with a shrinking workforce. Here we have cheap labor and offload the cost to the taxpayer. Illegal immigration is just another part of corporate welfare which is why socialists like Bernie sanders used to be against it.
- digitaltrees 1y ago
  Your counter argument clearly cuts against your initial argument. Low wages isn’t preventing automation. It’s lack of an ecosystem of similar suppliers, lack of highly trained talent and lack of government and market investment. Liberals aren’t against immigration because it is corporate welfare but because of the strain it places on the social safety net and effects on jobs but both of those could be overcome with a rational policy on special economic zones.
thephyber 1y ago
Chinese dark factories aren’t harvesting bruisable fruits and veggies. Dark factories are specifically selected for tasks that are easily automated with extremely high precision. Most of agriculture isn’t.

LorenPechtel 1y ago

The jobs that don't require a delicate hand are to a large degree already automated. But the robots are not up to the delicate stuff.

remarkEon 1y ago
>But the robots are not up to the delicate stuff. Robots did my dad's knee replacement surgery. I don't think this argument holds water anymore. Maybe if you make your claim more precise: delicate + scale. But, if that's the case, the scale problem is solved with money.
- saagarjha 1y ago
  Robots? Or a human doctor that controlled it?
- LorenPechtel 1y ago
  Lots of teleoperated stuff in the medical world. That's not the same as robots. There's still a skilled hand at the controls making the medical decisions.