Thursday, November 10, 2016
Voting to Get Our Old Jobs Back Will Not Repeal Global Capitalism
Two decades ago an economist gave a talk at Centre College in which he predicted that, due to automation and increased efficiencies in delivery, we could "optimistically" expect to eliminate 25 million jobs in the United States.
"You mean 'pessimistically,' don't you?" I asked.
No, he was thinking like an employer - or, really, as a shareholder - who was concerned about increasing profits by reducing costs.
I was thinking like a sociologist, looking at the effect on the entire population.
I think the margin in this election were the 25 million people who lost their jobs, or the possibility of those jobs. Those jobs - low education mass employment - is gone forever, and not just to China. Most have been eliminated altogether.
The governing class of both parties supports globalization of the economy, including automation. Voting against "elites" in favor of a strongman who promises to bring back those jobs is a hope against hope.
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3 comments:
"Voting against 'elites'in favor of a strongman..." Exactly the kind of elitist language that cost the Democrat Party the presidency.
Do you disagree?
Certainly, your guest lecturer accurately predicted the effects of technological advancement. Buggy whip manufacturers and blacksmiths faced the same crisis as the 19th Century rolled into the 20th. Can we get the industries back at this late date? Probably not--the internationalists have fixed that. The American people may demand manufacturing jobs, but when cheap goods from third world countries that are subsidized by their governments hit the shelves, the same American people grab the "bargain."
But President Trump and the newly elected 115th Congress, may be able to do something. He may very well put the American worker first by implementing high tariffs and lowering corporate income taxes to lure capital back home.
My comment was really directed to the quoted portion of your post: "Voting against "elites" in favor of a strongman...."
I have said for a year that the elites of this Country have misread the common American people. An examination of the electoral map demonstrates that the elites of the Northeast and the left coast, and, when the scale is changed to show county levels, the takers located in a few major urban centers and homes of most major universities, all under-estimated the effect of looking down their noses at the men and women of America who have been paying the bills.
Your comment comes across to the people that live in the heartland (those States derisively and dismissively referred to as "fly-over country") as an assertion that the academy is necessary to protect the poor benighted common folk from themselves. I hasten to say that I do not believe that was your intent; you and I have been taught to use words in a very precise manner. But it can come across that way. (Oh, how many times I have been called to task for "Talking like a lawyer." Guilty as charged!)
For the average American, after living through 8 years of an administration whose usual practice was to "blame America first" and to put the interests of other peoples and countries ahead of its own citizens, they were simply ready for a champion. And, until the Democrat Party learns that lesson, they may just continue to lose the elections that they considered to be their "entitlement."
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