Machines Making Machines

I have an "old Ipad" that I just noticed yesterday. I bought this "old Ipad" in 2006.

This "old Ipad" was remarkable for its time. You could play music on it of course, and listen to audible books. But, you could also side load movies to it (no wireless then) and watch them on your ipod!

Moreover, you could buy a connection cord, and stream the movie to a T.V. set!

This was cutting edge technology in 2006; five years ago. Today, that ipod is now an iphone and even an ipad, which I am using to write this article. These new digital inventions are light years ahead of that "old" 2006 ipod. These new gadgets now only play movies, but in high definition and with endless capability.

Manufacturing in the United States and in the global economy has seen the same proportional changes.

Today, I read in the N.Y. Times an article that reported on how American corporations are receiving record profits and are NOT hiring people, but rather investing in capital goods (machinery, technology; etc).

The nation is still mired in a possible double dip recession, in spite of the extension of the Bush tax cuts in January and even a payroll tax "holiday". As a result corporations are making record profits, and returning record dividends.

And, they are buying record amounts of new technology and hiring nobody!

And where are the jobs? The jobs are in the robotics, the "new Ipods" that in a sense are doing the work of workers that are "too expensive" to hire.

So two dramatic pieces of economic evidence are present here:

1. Tax cuts and even tax credits (the liberal way of tax cuts), no longer create investment that leads to job creation, in fact they do just the opposite, leading to investment that displaces workers. In a real sense they are now leading to job losses, companies are using the extra income to invest in technology that displaces human labor with machine labor. As one executive remarked, "We cannot compete with foreign cheap labor so we are buying machines to do the work". Machines are cheaper than people.

2. We are witnessing an unbelievable fast adoption of digital automation over analog automaton. Robotics are accelerating in manufacturing at a blistering pace. And, the digital machines that are displacing workers are manufactured in foreign countries adding insult to injury.

Machines are making machines, often never touched by human hands.

That Ipod I bought, for example in 2006, was made in the United States, today it is made in China. Technology now carries the label, "Invented in the USA, Manufactured in China, Vietnam, Japan; you name it. And, less human participation is involved in its production at every level save that of invention.

Many items are produced from inception to shipment, and are never touched by a human being!

So both the conservative remedy to job creation has been permanently discredited, and the liberal remedy to job creation has gone down also. Tax cuts and tax credits actually both ADD to the loss of jobs, not the other way around. Government instilled investment is having he opposite effect that was intended. The stimulus is being invested in machines that make machines.

In a real sense, spurring investment through getting more money to corporations, which was the theme of both Democratic and Republican administrations, is not working, and never will again.

And it is not necessarily working because corporations are greedy and seek to maximize profits. It's not working, because automation, especially digital automation is driving corporations to invest in new equipment and not new people.

And, this is occurring in the global economy as well. To compete globally, ALL manufacturing will automate, and robot "mate" as fast as they can.

Manufacturing by human hands is a dying labor form!

So, what do we do? How do we deal with the massive displacements of millions of workers? Neither political party has a plan for this that I know of!

In futuristic works of fiction, this was supposed to lead to lives of plenty and leisure. People were to be liberated from mind numbing assembly line work and be free to do what they wanted to do.

The reality is much more grim. Most countries, Germany being a big exception, that believe in the free enterprise economy, have simply allowed the unemployed to fester with no real safety net. In the United States we blame the unemployed for their fate.

In the United States, we have the conservatives that actually accuse the unemployed of remaining without work because they want to! Conservatives are actually claiming that people are purposefully staying on unemployment because it is there! Of course, the unemployed are NEVER going back to work in many cases, because the manufacturing jobs, and jobs that were spin offs of manufacturing, are simply gone; Chinese peasants are not doing the work, MACHINES are doing the work.

First, we need to stop the tax cuts, for everyone, right now! The tax cuts are actually accelerating joblessness. Moreover we need to look at Germany and the laws they passed to prepare the millions who are being displaced by the digital, global economy.

We also need to stop the corporate tax breaks and incentives, because they are actually damaging the economy by creating millions of unemployed.

The alternative is a permanent underclass of America and the likelihood of a Republican President in 2012, who will continue the tax cut madness that actually is CAUSING THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM!

Think about it. How much faster and better is the Ipad compared to the Ipod of 2006? If that kind of speed, power and capability is possible in an Ipod, can you imagine the "progress" that is occurring in robotics, that directly takes workers off the assembly line and is revolutionizing the global economy.

The Industrial Revolution moved millions from the farms to the assembly lines and revolutionized society.

The same kind of revolution is happening now; the problem is there is no place for the displaced to go!

We must adapt to it, change our economic approaches, and begin to protect our fellow citizens who are having their basic economic existence threatened. Otherwise, sooner or later, there will be a revolution of another kind as we are witnessing in the middle east today.

Unemployed middle class Americans, who once had the "good life" will not sit quietly by while their very existence is threatened. They will rise up, in various ways, attack their antagonists that will threaten the status quo and democracy itself.

Roosevelt understood this in 1933 and instead of becoming a dictator (that many urged him to do), decided to change the economic approach of the country through government regulation and leadership. In a real sense, that is our only alternative now.

To leave it to the corporations is crazy, because the corporations are acting in business responsible ways, that throw more people out of work every day.

We need government to lead here, business cannot, because business is simply doing what it needs to do, which is diametrically opposed to the national interest and is feeding the unemployment monster that endangers us all.

Redding Goes Right and Is Broke!

You are right, Redding has a bad attitude. I am a native, born and raised here, so have lots of history (family is "Pioneer" Family: Shasta Historical Society).

This is why we are down:

1. The county swung right about 1970. We elected a conservative Congressman after years of Democrats. Mr. Herger has done nothing to help the economy of the region for thirty years. He has pandered to big drug companies, and has blithely become a multi-millionaire while his district became one of the poorest in the state. The amount of federal money he has courted is a pathetic fraction of what we used to get in the 50s and 60s. Have you seen any "Herger Dams" lately? So, strike one: lousy Congressional representation.

Strike two: A suffocating economic policy based on discredited conservative principles. The city of Redding has spread out all over the county; of late the city has made the horrible mistake of allowing Costco to re-locate (in trade for a police station of all things) which will decimate what is left of downtown. Big box mega stores will sit on Hwy 44 and Interstate 5, drawing people out of the city.

Urban sprawl while gas prices skyrocket! What are these people thinking?

The same lunacy almost built a auto mall in Churn Creek bottom, which would have been an economic disaster.

Where does this wing nut behavior come from? From the host of southern California transplants who have moved here who worship automobiles and urban sprawl.

Redding lost its charm thanks to them. Redding is poor because of them.

Strike three: An unbelievable string of horrible decisions surrounding economic development. We have courted retail and service (restaurants on every block), while ignoring educational institutions and government projects that could have brought technology industry to the region.

Shasta County is hostile to progressive ideas, so progressive industries stay away. If you are a M.I.T graduate, and want to do a start-up Internet business, you don't come to Redding, where right wing fanatics run the town.

Finally, imagine if Mr. Herger would have pushed for a highway improvement on 299 west to Eureka; and while he was at it pushed a railroad extension as well? We would have become the gateway to the west for all of Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Oh, I forgot these would have been big governmental projects, and the vast majority of Redding citizens believe Big Government is the devil.

So, we will sit up here, with 40% of our peers easing their pain with dope, alcoholism at record levels, groveling in the conservative heaven we have allowed to exist.

It's the politics stupid. Shasta Dam, and the Central Valley project revitalized northern California. When those ended, and we turned to the right, we bankrupted our economy and sold our future to Wally Herger and his special interests.

Right now, the wing nuts are pushing hard for a "Charter City", throwing away the consistent and successful city organization that has provided a well run city for sixty years, so two of them can have a shot at a well paying job (mayor). Pathetic!

If you want to check this, read our history; oh, that's right, now we deal with Palin History, so rewrite history and it will be all better.

Simply rewrite history about this and prosperity will somehow return.

Wing nuts unite, you have solved our problems and ruined our town!

On Our Terms

Today, I was watching one of seemingly endless reports on the “stalemate” concerning extending the debt limit in Washington. The speaker of the house and other Republicans had just met with the President to discuss “negotiations” concerning the deficit and talks relating to increasing the debt limit of the federal government.

I was struck by a remark the speaker made. He said, after some posturing, “as long as the President accepts our terms, we can reach a settlement”.

I immediately stopped and uttered an expletive. When I was working, I spent at least ten years as either the lead negotiator or a member of the negotions team. I never have heard a negotiator say, “as long as they accept our terms”.

That is simply not done. Negotiators may say, we are working hard for our positions, or we believe in certain principles, but to say the other side has to accept “our terms” is unique.

And what are those terms? Senator McConnnel, has said Medicare Reform (ending it) is on the table! This is in the face of over 70% on every poll imaginable, who do not want Medicare substantially messed with.

But the cons do not care. The compromise must be “on our terms” or no deal.

They are playing with creating a potential financial meltdown that will have global ramifications, but any agreement must be “on their terms”

But nevermind, as the cons say. Sara Palin recently said, with a straight face, that the deficit is President Obama’s fault, and exceeds all the deficits in the history of Presidents. Oh, come on!

In 1945 the federal deficit was almost 100% of GDP. That was a deficit, that took almost 30 years to pay off.

And, the Republicans yelled about that too, ignoring that the deficit was developed to save the nation.

Bush did not have that excuse. He spent like there was no tomorrow, because it was the only way he could get re-elected. He personified the saying, “Anyone can get elected who cuts taxes and raises spending”.

So now we watch this merry dance, of the cons refusing to give up anything, hoping the President, whose re-election is coming up, blinks.

He better not. He blinked and extended the rich tax cuts, which has seriously damaged the country.

You see, in spite of the con lies, the rich (and corporations also) do not do what they promise to do. (GASP!!!)

They do not invest the extra income they keep because of tax cuts in the United States. Instead they invest in foreign companies, oil companies for example, because that is where the return is.

And, regardless of the con lies, ALL oil companies are global now. Not one owes any allegiance to the United States.

In fact, right now, Obama’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, is being opposed by Republicans because Obama will not support scuttling a bill that offers some protection from outsourcing to the few remaining American jobs left in the United States.

That’s right, Republicans were able to take control of the House, with a promise of jobs, jobs, jobs….and turn right around and hold a nomination hostage so they can outsource even more jobs out of the country.

Remember, these are their terms.

So far, the American people have been duped by this whole thing. Fox News preaches this garbage 24/7 aided by the conservative propaganda chorus that has people believing the world is flat. People would rather believe the lies, than face the truth:

1. We are going to have to raise some taxes to pay down the deficit. We essentially charged two wars, and we have to begin to pay the bill.
2. We need to develop an national energy policy to deal with the global warming that is killing hundreds of thousands in the world (and in Missouri).
3. We need to develop a national economic recovery policy that relies on government infrastructure partnerships between private and public investment; ideally focusing on clean energy initiatives.
4. We need to invest in our educational system so we can re-train a generation who have been displaced by outsourcing.

And we cannot even begin doing these things on “their terms”; because the bankrupt conservative economic policy got us in the mess in the first place.