>From Harry Veeder
> >Actually, creating jobs is rather irrelevant goal, because it is more > >important to create automation and robots who does the productive > >work. Of course, creating automation, does return into innovation. > > > >As the wealth is acquired from automation, then it is possible to > >create jobs into service sector by boosting the purchasing power of > >median people by introducing basic income. I disagree. Vehemently so. Perhaps I should actually say that the above premise misses an important point that I will attempt to clarify - as I see it. It is inevitable that outsourcing, which is then permanently followed by automation & robotics is what is in store for us, what the above comment completely misses is how will we go about employing increasing numbers of individuals who have been misplaced as a result of their traditional jobs having been outsourced and eventually taken over by automation and robotics. A subtle point the above premise may have gotten completely wrong is the fact that as automation takes over more and more jobs in traditional manufacturing sectors it is NOT necessarily true that these misplaced workers will end up being reemployed in various service sector areas of the economy. The problem many politicians seem oblivious to and subsequently refuse to acknowledge to their constituents is the fact that increasing numbers of service sector jobs are ALSO ending up being automated. This is happening because it is far cheaper for companies providing various "services" to automate rather than to continue employing troublesome people who need expensive health insurance and other "bennies" like unions that management hates. For example, the last time I called my cable company to complain about the fact that my internet service was down I never talked to a human. The ENTIRE phone "conversation" was handled through a combination of voice recognition and recorded responses that guided me step-by-step through a complex process that helped me restore internet access. At my place of employment, more and more individuals we employ for computer related work are contractors hired from India and China - (Outsourcing). Sooner or later many of these "outsourced" jobs will end up being automated as well. Other service sectors that one might think would be impervious to the ravages of automation are also in danger of being replaced, such as the lawyer industry. Specialized search engines can take over many tasks previously employed by lawyers whose job had been to search text for various rulings. National wealth will NOT be created if the ONLY thing we see happen to our nation is the inevitable implementation of more and more automation. All that will produce is increasing numbers of individuals thrown out of job market where they may remain permanently unemployed or underemployed as they desperately take up the only kinds of jobs they can find, such as flipping burgers at McDonalds or manning cash registers at Wall Mart or Office Depot. Time after time, amount of income these displaced workers end up earning after being "reemployed" is far less than what they were previously earning, and this inevitably results in the fact that they will not earn enough income to be able to afford the very fruits that automation is supposed to offer them. This issue has been going on for years and it is insidious. It is a major contributing factor to our current economic woes. It is vividly described in detail by author, Martin Ford in his book "The Lights in the Tunnel" which Mr. Rothwell originally brought to our attention not long ago. http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/ It's worth reading. As a nation, as a world, we will have to devise ways in which to both evenly and fairly redistribute income (currency) amongst the population regardless of whether these individual are employed in the traditional sense or not. Our economies are consumer based. This means that if too many remain unemployed they cannot consume anything, and our economy tanks permanently. It will make no difference if automation produces everything we need if too many individuals have no means at their disposal in which to earn a decent income in which to earn goods and services that end up being created via through automation. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
