Thanks very much for this Sally... It is an argument that has been waiting to be made for almost a generation -- going back to the earliest days of automating white collar work in offices. The question is where to go with this... As I mentioned in the blogpost I pointed out to Lawry, the issue being raised here is probably most immediate in the MENA revolution countries since the revolution there was in large part by youth against their immediate situation of unemployment, including the unemployment among educated youth. The solution that will need to be found will not be the easy one (sufficient only to postpone the requirement to address the issue directly) that is how to create meaningful employment for vast numbers of young people when the solutions of "modernization" i.e. neo-liberal privatization, automation, outsourcing etc. have (even if corruptly) been partially introduced already over the last half dozen years at the urging of the usual gang of Big Four consultatns, World Bank, IMF, USAID etc.etc. (I've discussed this to a limited degree in a different blogpost on Tunisia http://wp.me/pJQl5-4o My feeling is that there will be a need to change the paradigm and go for intensification of human service delivery (with ICT supports) and withdrawal from global markets especially for services and very likely the use of alternative currencies to pay for this through local exchange systems rather than globally convertible ones. It will be wrenching and may not be possible but the current track to my mind, at least in those countries and others (with the likely exception of China and possibly India) is more or less completely blocked. Nothing of this is of course, possible in the short run in the US--we've seen the reaction to the beginnings of this for years there already with the vast increase in the numbers incarcerated, the dumbing down of the education system which reduces the demand for intellectually fullfilling jobs, and the externatlization of the anger onto immigrants. Mike
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 9:58 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] NYTimes.com: Degrees and Dollars <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times E-mail This <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/apps/emailthis/head_2.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> This page was sent to you by: [email protected] OPINION | March 07, 2011 Op-Ed <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07krugman.html?emc=eta1> Columnist: Degrees and Dollars By PAUL KRUGMAN The hollow promise of good jobs for highly educated workers. <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> Copyright <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html> 2011 The <http://www.nytco.com/> New York Times Company | Privacy <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/privacy.html> Policy <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> <http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=emailthis .nytimes.com/openrate&posall=Bottom1&pos=Bottom1&query=qstring&keywords=>
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