Jobs Threatened by Machines: A Once ‘Stupid’ Concern Gains Respect (LOW SKILLER'S PREFER DOLE]

New York Times ^ | JUNE 7, 2016 | Eduardo Porter

[expat_panama]

...“Had horses had an opportunity to vote and join the Republican or Democratic Party,” Leontief wrote, they might have been able to get “the necessary appropriation from Congress.”...

...what happens if the job market stops doing the job of providing a living wage for hundreds of millions of people? How will the economy spread money around...

...if the bottom quarter of the population in the United States and Europe simply couldn’t find a job at a wage that could cover the cost of basic staples? What if smart-learning machines took out lawyers and bankers? Or even, God forbid, journalists and economists?...

...He reminisced about his undergraduate days at M.I.T. in the 1970s, when the debate over the idea of technological unemployment pitted “smart people,” exemplified by the great economist Robert Solow, and “stupid people,” “exemplified by a bunch of sociologists.”

It was stupid to think technological progress would reduce employment. If technology increased productivity — allowing companies and their workers to make more stuff in less time — people would have more money to spend on more things that would have to be made, creating jobs for other people...

...“Suppose the stupid people were right. What would it look like?” And what it looked like fits pretty well with what the world looks like today.

For large categories of workers, wages are inadequate. Many are withdrawing from the labor force altogether...

...“Maybe the stupid people weren’t quite as stupid as I thought they were,” Mr. Summers conceded. “This was at least a serious concern that had to be thought about.”

In a world in which many Americans do not work during large chunks of their lives, we might have to conceive of Social Security and disability much more broadly than we do today...

[expat_panama]

imho the writer misses the point, Sure, we all see robots taking over and masses of low skilled workers are going on welfare --but the writer seems to say that robots must be the cause. What I'm seeing is that the minimum wage makes it illegal to hire low skillers and factories switch (against their will) to robots. That said, what's new new in the article here is the idea that many of those leaving the workforce are getting a cushy welfare check and are there to stay no matter what.

The min. wage plus welfare hikes have created our "new normal".

[T-Bone Texan]

A haiku:

Dullards are replaced
No more hostility with
“You want fries with that?”

[T-Bone Texan]

A haiku:

Say bye to rudeness
And as a bonus robots
Won’t spit in your food

[expat_panama]

Hiya guys!  Stocks seemed mixed in mixed trade but technically NASDAQ was down in rising volume and the S&P nudged up in lower trade.  Bottom line is we're going nowhere and this morning's futures traders concur.  Metals trade kind of follows suit, with prices drifting back up in the ranges we've had for months now and futures seeing a drop back of -0.81%.  This morning:  MBA Mortgage Index, JOLTS - Job Openings, and Crude Inventories. 

News someone needs to post on the FR:

Grow Econ, Grow Sm Business - Blankfein, Bloomberg, & Buffett, USA Today
Want to Bring Back Growth? Kill Off Dodd-Frank - Editorial, Investor's
Manufacturers to Congress: Go for Growth - J. Timmons & G. Sherrill,RCM
Gains From Trade Are Way Too Great to Ignore - Matt Rosenberg, Lens
Talking the Future, Trump and Clinton Stuck in Past - Howard Gold, MW
Sanders' State Wants to Unlearn Lesson of Compeition - Alex Brill, RCM
Socialism Triggers a Downward Spiral - Richard Rahn, Washington Times
France Shuns Europe As Brexit Revolt Spreads - A E-Pritchard, Telegraph
Yuan As a Reserve Currency: Boon or Bane for USD? - Charles Wolf, TWS

[BwanaNdege]

It was the 3rd of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.

I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was bailin' hay...

Oh, wait, "Technology" put us out of our jobs and onto Welfare!

[expat_panama]

robots
Won’t spit in your food

Hmm, there is that....

[expat_panama]

Why is it that so few understand tha real life robots-- 

←--don't look like this...

 

...they look like this: ↓

[rarestia]

My eye starts twitching when I read the phrase “living wage.” See, there it goes again!

Centuries ago, life meant more than having money. Life meant drawing breath, walking out of your home to sow fields or walk to the creek for water. It didn’t mean being able to pay off your over-extended credit card or being able to lease a Mercedes.

We need to own this narrative. The left talks about a “living wage” (stupid twitch), but we need to talk about living dignity. The left wants people to have a “living wage” (getting tired of this twitch), but they really want wage slaves. They want people spending money on shit they don’t need.

Teach people to get off their dead asses and go build something, go plant something, go make something. Teach people the value and dignity of a hard day’s work. Flipping burgers and dealing with pissed off customers at McDonalds is not hard work. It might be mentally taxing, but it’s not swinging an axe or hanging drywall. It’s not measuring lumber to build a new home. It’s not dignified work. It’s meant to teach people that shit jobs are not intended to sustain a family or a lavish lifestyle.

[expat_panama]

yeah, plenty of food to go around....

[rarestia]

Welcome to Carl's Jr! Would you like some EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES?

[expat_panama]

--and there's never any end to it. 

Their idea of a 'living wage' ends up meaning that if you got a car, microwave, flatscreen w/ cable, and Nike shoes then you're still at the poverty line --and what's sobering is that this is not an exageration!

[rarestia]

No one points out to the media that the American idea of “poverty” means you have all of those things and more. Go to an “impoverished” village in Africa or Asia. Go somewhere that pays people pennies for a full day of work. Yet, they survive.

This idea that people need a “living wage” is retarded. It’s literally the realm of slow thinkers. Expand out any of these ideas to logical conclusions and consider the critical flaws to them, and any thinking person will understand the disingenuous nature of this discussion.

[hawg-farmer - FR..October 1998]

If robots got rid of Lawyers, Bankers, Journalists, AND Politicians I might add, problem solved..heh heh

[grania]

The pharaohs had it right. Folks without meaningful work to accomplish should be building pyramids or whatever.

[Salgak]

Hell, I’m waiting for the Lawncare and Home Gardening/farming Robots.

Mow the lawn, tend the garden, grow a decent chunk of your own food. . . .

Add to that, home manufacturing tech (3d printing is just the start. . . ), and a LOT of “drudge” jobs go away. . .

[Pietro]

...“Maybe the stupid people weren’t quite as stupid as I thought they were,”

Or the "smart" people ain't as smart as they thought they were.

It's the so-called smart people that want to centrally control everything that could be a major contributor to the economic and societal dislocations.

Perhaps we should do a study on that and establish a "blue-ribbon" committee.

[steve8714]

Living wage means if you’re late Monday, leave early Thursday and miss Friday, the benefits from the government (because you’ve stayed under the limit) plus wages make a nice life. 27 x $15 > 40 x $7.65

[ecomcon]

Centuries ago, life meant more than having money. Life meant drawing breath, walking out of your home to sow fields or walk to the creek for water. It didn’t mean being able to pay off your over-extended credit card or being able to lease a Mercedes.

I agree. We will never truly escape " by the sweat of your brow you will eat bread.." The sweat merely changes form. Now we have different forms of "sweat": stress, worry, insecurity, envy, and resentment, which were present before, but above all, more distraction from God.

Which I suppose is the intended result.

[Jeff Chandler]

THE FUTURE

[TalonDJ]

“What if smart-learning machines took out lawyers and bankers? Or even, God forbid, journalists”

Oh don’t kid yourself. It will not take much machine smarts to replace journalists.