Out: We’re losing jobs to ATMs. In: We’re creating jobs via robotics

Hot Air ^ | 25 jun 2011 | Allahpundit

[Southack]

I know that you don’t see it like that...Americans love regulating each other too much to ever admit that too many rules have driven away our jobs.

It must be Wal-Mart’s fault, instead!

[eyedigress]

Vince, show that clip of the guys off Sam Ridley ripping it out. I know you have it.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

If the shoe fits.

Sam Walton didn’t do things this way.

[Southack]

Yes, well math is also challenging to Americans...so most of us just don’t do it. Wal-Mart, for instance, has $262 Billion in annual U.S. sales. In contrast, the American economy has $14 Trillion in annual sales.

So Wal-Mart is less than 0.2% of the U.S. economy. For the math-challenged, blaming Wal-Mart for our economic woes makes sense, but the reality is that the other 99.8% of our economy has more to do with it, and the one common denominator for that other 99.8% is: over-regulation.

[cruise_missile]

Obama Expands His (ATM) Job Initiatives Program

Luddite Post By: Billy Ayers Luddite 6/18/2011

Speaking at the Saul Alinsky & Luddite Alliance Institute in Santa Cruz, California yesterday. President Obama expanded his popular ATM initiative. The initiative to rid the country of job-killing ATM's and replace them with people.

The President explained that the first ATM was introduced December 1972 at Lloyds Bank by IBM in the UK and that is when high tech started killing jobs. Then he said, "Why not other inventions since 1972? Why should they get a pass? If we can change the borders of Israel to 1967, why not the borders of job-killing technology?" Obama said with his preacher like rhetoric.

It was so universally accepted by people here in Santa Cruz that President Obama decided to expand his job plan initiative further with a little help from his teleprompter.

President Obama explained other structural problems with the economy and how the vending machine lobby has taken away jobs. As he said with conviction in his voice and a broken cadence, "The vending machine lobby has displaced the local candy man business on almost every corner in New York City. How horrible is that for little children with sad little faces with big rosy cheeks."

The president moved right back to attacking the high-tech job-killing lobby and GPS satellites. GPS satellites are also on target for this job creation president. He also outlined how he would turn off all GPS satellites since they have replaced so many flight navigators. And this has even been a more recent job-killer than the ATM's. "So they are definitely fair game." He said. "This also means there will be more need for FAA personnel in towers since more airplanes will be more likely to need help for wandering airplanes."

Another reason for ending the GPS program Obama explained, "NASA is doing Islamic outreach projects now. They don't need to be bothered with satellites and that job-killing techy stuff that we've all ready done before anyway." This was in reference to Obama canceling NASA's manned space flight for the foreseeable future.

Also, our President Obama presented several other ideas including the blocking of Internet e-mail. "How many post office jobs has the Internet cost the country? And this has been within the last fifteen years. How many newspapers has the Internet put out of business?" He demanded! As he gazed into the enthusiastic crowd. "How many librarians have lost their jobs because of the Internet?" No one in the crowd could answer his insightful questions.

Like a laser, next on President Obama's list were golf carts. Obama has signed an executive order banning golf carts because they have displaced so many caddies. A caddy with out a job or health care. "How callous are these republicans that sit and ride in their golf carts", he said with reflective wonderment. Obama said he has personal knowledge of the caddies that no longer show up to carry his clubs, Gatorade or Mint Juleps.

Also, Obama also said the biggest impediment to his shovel ready job stimulus has been Caterpillar. "Just how many jobs has Caterpillar killed?" He said. "At least a billion shovel ready jobs. That's how many!" As he slammed down his clutched fist knocking over one of his teleprompters and spilling Kool-Aid all over the Che Guevara delegation.

Without the aid of his shorted teleprompter, Obama improvised his speech and shouted with passion. "Throw down your shovel and pick up your teaspoon and follow me to Hope and Prosperity." The crowd started shouting in unison, "TEASPOON, TEASPOON, TEASPOON!!!"

Obama finished up by saying that, "If these initiatives are passed right away that unemployment will be fall below 8% within days and not weeks."

President Obama is now looking for another $2 Trillion dollar stimulus and a nice tax hike on job-killing high tech companies that have put so many Americans out of work.

It looks like President Obama is ready to shift the economy into high gear or should I say, "Gidyup Mr. President!!!"

[vlad335]

"That means giving our kids the best education in the world so they have the knowledge and skills to succeed in this economy."

TRANSLATION OF DEMOCRAT SPEAK: We need to kick some more money to the teacher's unions and label it as 'investing in our children's future."

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Reasonable minds can differ on the reason.

You think regulation is what sent our jobs overseas. As if regulations sit at executive desks, and make strategic decisions.

I think uneven trade, deliberately targeting US industries, aided and abetted by “American” companies with no concern for America, is the reason.

The solution you believe is to remove much of the regulation. The solution I believe is significant and across the board US import tariffs.

Perhaps we should do both.

[Doe Eyes]

Funny, but this was the obvious outcome.

I remember the Jetsons when I was a child. Robots replaced humans, and the Jetsons lived the life of leasure.

The difference is, business's don't pay those replaced by machines to hang around and work for few hours for the same pay they made for working full time. The machines are doing their work, and the humans are out on their ass.

It's common sense.

[sten]

well ya know... ATMs aren’t robotics... they’re tooootally different

[Niuhuru]

A huge problem is the constant demands for bargains and sales. People in the US want a high quality item at as little cost as possible. Companies are under constant pressure to produce at as little cost to the buyer as possible and keep lowering prices, one amount after another. Few people want to pay full price for a high quality item.

[Niuhuru]

“that other 99.8% is: over-regulation.”

It’s really the crux of the entire issue. The US is strangling itself through requiring constant regulations and red tape. No one wants to get pestered all the time about one thing after another and it’s becoming expensive to maintain employees on a long term basis.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Why does Zero even hold press conferences? He could just send his teleprompter out, have it projected on a big screen and people could just read it without having to put up with Zero, the Secret Service, his personal goons, SEIU and other labor goons and bunches of liberal “news readers” )(aka journalists). Then when the teleprompter says something incredibly stupid, like ATMs stealing jobs or robots creating jobs, he could just blame it on “bad programming”!

[baiamonte]

Not to worry. We’ve got “green jobs”, “Unions” and the “zero”. Things will be just fine. Need to get rid of those damn Republicans.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

I’d say a part of the problem (a bigger part in my mind, than it probably would seem to you currently) is not as simple as the constant demand for lowest price above all.

It’s similar to the problem with the GOP.

Let me try to draw this picture. Liberals have been so successful at forming opinions in America because they have been largely unopposed whenever they present their propaganda.

Much of this has been a result of corruption and even conspiracy by the left - seizing and keeping through whatever method necessary - the levers of propaganda. Media. Education. Conservatives have been marginalized in all forms of public opinion up until the advent of alternative media, especially starting with El Rushbo.

So things now also stand in consumer opinions about buying things.

Americans have not always been agnostic about manufacturing or the economy. Rosie the Riveter. War Bonds. Americans have, and can again, understand and act in ways which are good for America, simply because those actions are good for America. Americans for the most part sincerely and deeply crave to be patriotic.

But nobody is forwarding such a message. The left isn’t, because they’re not real comfortable with patriotism itself.

The problem is - our side. WE SHOULD BE the ones articulating why there are more important things than simply the cheapest price on plastic crap in Walmart.

We are not articulating that.

So nobody is. Liberals are not. Conservatives are not.

So how in the world are individual American consumers even going to begin including - where something is made - in their decision making to begin with?

We are brainwashing our own fellow Americans, by not saying anything.

Far too effectively.

We should be speaking up for AMERICA.

If not us. Who??

[Niuhuru]

Sooner or later, someone might come along; but I think it will have to ultimately be grassroots, not just one person. The Tea Party has done almost perfectly since it’s grassroots and it’s not just one person in the firing line. It’s everyone taking on an equal share of the burden and taking charge, not just sitting around, waiting for the right person, and then letting them take all the heat while agreeing in principle, but not in action. It’s selfish to make one person stand alone and not show the opposition that they agree with their man. The Liberals are not afraid to stand behind ‘their man/woman’ no matter how sleazy and the Libs are abandoning Obama if only because he has litearlly destroyed the lives of Libs as well and undone all the damage they have done to this country. Many Libs just want their lives back to what it was before this huge mess started and Obama excabarated it.

The GOP has until now wanted the best possible leadership for the lowest possible effort while the Libs are always throwing their weight behind their candidates. Even the MSM is behind Obama all the time and they invest as much as possible into their candidate and they don’t back down. The GOP has bene stuck, helpless, and whining until just recently in 2010 that they realized that dependency is no longer an option. The GOP has been cowering behidn the skirts of incredibly strong leaders, but doing nothing to support them. We have flaccid leaders because we have wanted flaccid leaders. The truly strong leaders do not succeed if they don’t have their armies.

[Cobra64]

.

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[Southack]

Consumers are always shopping for highest quality at the best price. That’s not going to change no matter how much you want to guilt them into buying local.

What has changed is that the world has figured out that it’s relatively easy to “make stuff” so now there’s a lot more competition (read: pricing pressure).

Rather than get trampled, companies simply started looking at where they could make things easier. Less regulation.

Regulations add costs. Regulations make things more expensive.

Jobs flee from regulations.

You can add taxes and regulations all day and all night, but that won’t bring back jobs no matter how much you tell yourself that the new taxes and regs are “strategic” or not.

If there was a magic fix, every country would already use it. There’s not.

If we want to be competitive, then Americans have to give up the one thing that we now cherish: the love of regulating “evil businesses” and otherwise telling everyone else how to live.

...or you can just give up the “evil business” part because they are all leaving for lower regulation countries.

That whole “jobs” thing: it’s gone if we don’t change.

[Mycroft Holmes]

Nicely done. Capital chases cheap labor.

We need to automate to become the low cost alternative. This empties the factory floor of a lot of low wage labor in favor of a few highly skilled machine wranglers. Unfortunately this leaves a lot of low skilled unemployed who need beer and football. At some point free beer and football need to become part of the program.

[CodeSlinger1]

“Americans have not always been agnostic about manufacturing or the economy. Rosie the Riveter. War Bonds. Americans have, and can again, understand and act in ways which are good for America, simply because those actions are good for America. Americans for the most part sincerely and deeply crave to be patriotic.”

Isn’t what you are asking for basically a form of economic fascism? Basically, you want American industries to compete against each other domestically while having some sort of cooperation(via government mandate) against foreign manufacturing competitors?

I’m not actually against this in theory, but do note that nations that can successfully pull this off (China, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia) are all ethnically homogeneous. American does not fit that profile.

[Monorprise]

While Robots don’t unionized they also don’t care where they live, what “Freedoms” they have, and they do have to pay energy prices.

To that end even if we fully mechanized our industry which I agree is the way to go, we still can’t compete with the increasingly freer and cheaper China.

There is no escaping the fact that energy is expensive here cause of goverment rules & regulations just like labor, land uses, trade, ect..