http://www.gbcmotors.com.au/braud.php
Posted on 07/17/2007 7:15:21 AM PDT by BGHater
1 man-hour or 34 man-hours. No contest.........
That is a wonderful invention.
This is what ingenuity brings when presented with a shortage (of legal workers).
Maybe they can go home now.
Is it different for cab-sauv? And, is it linear or exponential when applied to other crops such as, oh say, lettuce?
I read an article about the evolution of picking machines some time back.
Basically it said that corn harvesters and such were relatively easy to engineer but machines for ‘delicate’ stuff would be harder and more expensive to develop and that there was no demand so it wasn’t being pursued.
Not that it couldn’t be done just that there was no demand for the R&D investment.
Has been used in Australia and New Zealand for years. The farmers just thought the illegals were cheaper than the machine. And the tax payer was footing the rest of the bills.
Interesting. This reminds me of a bumper sticker I’ve seen a few times, which reads: “If I’d known about THIS, I would’ve picked my own damned cotton.”
Substitution Effect in action. Capital goods can substitute for labor if the price of labor increases. So, for example, if all illegal immigrants obeyed the law and returned to their native countries leaving us with “jobs Americans won’t do,” then we’ll primarily mechanize our way to the same end result, if at a slightly higher cost.
Example #2: I’ll bet anything that meat packing is perfectly mechanizable if labor costs increased enough. Who really wants to piece chickens? I can see by the cut of the salmon at the market that fish packers already have mechanized fillet machines.
Substitution Effect #3: If the Illegals leave, then there will be incentive to offer busing and summer jobs to poor inner city kids to go pick fruit. I know that the Ranier Valley in Seattle has enough labor to pick all the Ranier Cherries in Yakima, given the right price for people’s time. And those rural jobs would have a salutory effect on many social problems in the inner city.
Economics cures most ills. We can enforce the laws of the country and survive, with the substitution effect ensuring that most jobs “Americans won’t do” are still accomplished, if at a marginally higher price.
Price: The adjusting factor by which most anything is possible.
John Henry was a railroad man,
He worked from six ‘till five,
“Raise ‘em up bullies and let ‘em drop down,
I’ll beat you to the bottom or die.”
John Henry said to his captain:
“You are nothing but a common man,
Before that steam drill shall beat me down,
I’ll die with my hammer in my hand.”
John Henry said to the Shakers:
“You must listen to my call,
Before that steam drill shall beat me down,
I’ll jar these mountains till they fall.”
John Henry’s captain said to him:
“I believe these mountains are caving in.”
John Henry said to his captain: “Oh, Lord!”
“That’s my hammer you hear in the wind.”
John Henry he said to his captain:
“Your money is getting mighty slim,
When I hammer through this old mountain,
Oh Captain will you walk in?”
John Henry’s captain came to him
With fifty dollars in his hand,
He laid his hand on his shoulder and said:
“This belongs to a steel driving man.”
John Henry was hammering on the right side,
The big steam drill on the left,
Before that steam drill could beat him down,
He hammered his fool self to death.
They carried John Henry to the mountains,
From his shoulder his hammer would ring,
She caught on fire by a little blue blaze
Not a legitimate comparison. You need to calculate the hourly costs of the machine as well. Fuel, maintenence, depreciation, debt service, taxes, etc.
There might even be some unemployed or welfare people that might work for $9 an hour.
To me, the answer for this is a "clearing house" for migrant workers. There, they could get background checks, fingerprints, and the proper documents to be hired. An employer calls for the cleared workers and says "I need 50 pickers for next Monday", and they are on their way. They need to stay out of trouble, out of our school system, out of our welfare system, and out of our legal system to stay and work. Once they are finished, they go home, to Mexico. Anyone failing any of these provisions for work here is banned forever. The problem is, they aren't all food pickers and dishwashers. They shouldn't be able to be carpenters, brick layers, electricians, etc. These are definitely jobs Americans need and want, if paid properly. When I was growing up, a brick layer could support his family and live pretty good on his salary. The cheaper labor doesn't make the house cheaper, just more profit and less quality.
I remember General Homes had to give refunds on hundreds of homes because the mortar wasn't mixed properly and inferior bricks were used. Whole walls fell off houses within a year or two in Houston.
I need a machine that will pick blackberries. I’m tired of getting all scratched up just to have some homemade cobbler. Although this machine may be a little bit pricey.
As long as cheap or slave labor is available, no labor saving device is desirable.
Idle hands, and all that...
Check your math; one machine hour, 102 man hours.
My machines won’t run away or get uppity.........
How you get 102?.......
I'd agree, but I'm busy trying to get a windoze application to do what is says it's doing...
BTW why will WMP burn an MP3, but can't play an MP3????
I don’t use WMP...........
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