Ray, Automation in the factories is just part of the production. Most of production is getting the goods into the hands of the consumer.
Harry ****************************** Henry George School of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 (818) 352-4141 ****************************** -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ray Harrell Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2010 9:35 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [SPAM] How Unemployment Is Becoming an Age-Old Problem Mike, didn't we have this conversation ten years ago on this list? Does anyone remember the name of the article that used automation and robotics stats to predict that paid work would disappear for 40% of the population as the factories became automated? Where might it be in the archives? It didn't predict out sourcing at the time. I believed the 40% figure because because the stats on productivity lag in the Arts were also 40%. That 40% figure for productivity has been here in my business for some time now. Due to the free lance status, however, unemployment runs much, much higher. Last night I saw my student of 20 years do an outstanding Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. The cost of the cast? Zero. In a small theater off Broadway they were just happy to have performances to keep their skills as they continue forage for work. Most of the exceptionally talented people that graduate from America conservatories never make a living at raising the standard of mastery in America. I have a new metaphor for economists and the arts. Economists are like the child that just discovered sexual pleasure. They think that biological pleasure is the only purpose and have been taught that it was dirty. That's why the skill that develops patterning in the brain in the senses is relegated to mere entertainment. Meanwhile all of the rest of world is flowing down the black hole that first sucked in the artistic professions and no one seems to think that there might be a problem with the system of navigation. REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Gurstein Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2010 11:22 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] FW: [SPAM] How Unemployment Is Becoming an Age-Old Problem -----Original Message----- From: Portside Moderator [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 7:33 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [SPAM] How Unemployment Is Becoming an Age-Old Problem How Unemployment Is Becoming an Age-Old Problem Behind the horrible jobless numbers lies another story: if you're over 50, you soon wonder whether you will ever work again Naomi Cohn guardian.co.uk Friday 10 December 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/09/usemployment- obama-administration A deal is in the works to continue unemployment insurance for people who have exhausted 26 weeks of benefits, but it appears that those who have received 99 weeks - referred to as 99ers - will not be entitled to any additional weeks. In the meantime, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted last week that it would take four or five years for the unemployment rate to return to "normal". I lost my job as lawyer almost two years ago. Recently, while continuing to search for legal work, I began writing about unemployment for Examiner.com. I have received hundreds of emails from unemployed readers all over the country. The most heart-wrenching are those from people in their fifties and sixties, who, like me, are beginning to lose hope of ever working again. Of the approximately 15 million Americans who are out of work, around 2.2 million are aged 55 and over, and almost half of them have been out of work for more than six months. Positioned between our elderly parents and our still-minor children, we were, until now, sometimes called "the sandwich generation". Now, we might better be called "the new lost generation". While some have spouses who are working, many others are slipping into poverty. We continue to fight tenaciously to find jobs. This note from reader Susan, who was laid off from her job as a controller, is fairly typical of the emails I receive: "I have sent out hundreds of resumes, spent hundreds of hours networking and gone on perhaps 15 interviews, with two offers that were rescinded ... I have offered my services for cleaning homes, cleaning stalls, stocking shelves - anything!!! - and have been rebuffed. My benefits expired months ago, I've used the last of my savings, exhausted the equity that remained in my home and am now looking for things I can sell." Many of my readers are accustomed to succeeding at whatever they attempt. Rob, 57, writes: "I am a well-educated high-tech executive with over 35 years experience; an A player, a first- string starter. I lost my job to outsourcing back in September 2008 ... I have been unable to find work of any kind over the past 26 months ... I have sent out over 350 resumes resulting in a few phone interviews and one face to face interview. I even dumbed down my resume trying to get $12/hr jobs with no luck. My unemployment benefits ran out in October 2010 ... I will soon be forced to sell my home; my home of over 15 years where I raised my kids as a single dad. I don't have any idea where I will end up; and at 57, if I will ever work in high tech again. In the meantime, I cut lawns, do handyman work, and fix computers. Actually, I love the work but it is not enough to sustain me." Many of the emails detail the age discrimination my readers and I face. Susan writes: "I have actually seen one company change their ad the day after I interviewed, initially setting a maximum age and then revising that to a maximum number of years' experience." Much of the discrimination is subtle. A very typical job posting for an attorney states: "We are looking for a recent law school graduate to join a team of young attorneys." My readers and I have become accustomed to the code words used in job postings - energetic, bright, motivated, exceptionally computer savvy, able to multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment - as one of my readers put it, we "know they mean young and cute". Summing up our experience, Jeffrey, age 60, writes: "After 40 years of successful employment, I find myself feeling discarded and almost invisible as if experience has no value no matter what concessions you make." I am getting overwhelmed by a sense of loss from these emails. I watch a TV show with my daughter, and when I return to my desk, another dozen woeful tales have popped up in my inbox. "Mom!" my daughter says anxiously after reading two of them, "stop inviting them to write to you!" But I can't do that. They, we, deserve to have our voices heard. ___________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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