Second Meltdown Beginning?

originally posted by: stlbrew314
I spoke with my advisor about writing my doctoral thesis on the increase of technology and its effects on the workforce and the economy but he told me that my paper had to be focused in one area such as technology and automation in the auto industry and its effects on employment there. That's fine and dandy but if everyone just writes about a small segment of the economy and never puts it together into a big picture no one is going to know the real state.

My original plan was to write about how as computing power has increased so has our unemployment rate. Basically tie the number of transistors to a chip and the unemployment rate due to automation and technology. I was told I was stupid for wanting to do that.

I firmly believe unemployment will not go down and there will be a new standard for what the unemployment rate will and should be. This coupled with everything else going on in the world and I have no idea how the market hasn't crashed yet.

This is very interesting. As a society were are going to have to make some extreme changes to all of our policies. With the rise of robotics and A.I., we must come to an understanding that not everyone will have a manufacturing job. Yes, we will probably need people to make and fix the robots, but eventually the robots will do this themselves.
It reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation series. Far away in the future, A.I. robots almost indistinguishable from humans do all of our work. Humans then have all of the time in the world to pursue other stuff.
I think your thesis will be very interesting. When your are done, please make a thread about it.


ETA: I forgot to mention, I read a while ago that China is HEAVILY investing in and buying robotics for manufacturing.

I don't understand what all you people are complaining about. This is capitalism.

This is how it works when it works.

What's the problem? Are you clamoring for socialism or something now?

originally posted by: Kratos40

originally posted by: SubTruth
a reply to: AnIntellectualRedneck

I also wanted to add the unemployment extension that never passed. This is huge people 3.5 million and counting starving and losing everything. This could very well be a tipping point in itself. Every week more and more people lose the little bit of money they need to survive.



This money goes right back into the economy and without it millions of families are on the verge. I am surprised the mainstream media is not looking at this it could very well crash the entire darn system. If the president was a smart man he would champion this cause..........Oh well.

And yet the Obama Administration wants to give 500 million dollars to some rebel group in Syria. As for food prices, it is going to get worse because of the water shortages affecting important agricultural bread baskets such as the Central Valley in California and the disappearance of important pollinators such as bees.

Getting money out of the country actually lowers inflation, you know?

a reply to: Chiftel

Getting money out of the country actually lowers inflation, you know?

??



How does that happen?

originally posted by: Chiftel
I don't understand what all you people are complaining about. This is capitalism.

This is how it works when it works.

What's the problem? Are you clamoring for socialism or something now?

originally posted by: Kratos40

originally posted by: SubTruth
a reply to: AnIntellectualRedneck

I also wanted to add the unemployment extension that never passed. This is huge people 3.5 million and counting starving and losing everything. This could very well be a tipping point in itself. Every week more and more people lose the little bit of money they need to survive.



This money goes right back into the economy and without it millions of families are on the verge. I am surprised the mainstream media is not looking at this it could very well crash the entire darn system. If the president was a smart man he would champion this cause..........Oh well.

And yet the Obama Administration wants to give 500 million dollars to some rebel group in Syria. As for food prices, it is going to get worse because of the water shortages affecting important agricultural bread baskets such as the Central Valley in California and the disappearance of important pollinators such as bees.

Getting money out of the country actually lowers inflation, you know?

Can you explain how getting money out of the country can do this since this is a global economy? So we should praise the rich who move their millions/billions into offshore accounts for lowering inflation?

a reply to: Kratos40

The labor force participation rate has been steadily declining since 2000 and right now we're at a participation rate where we were in the early 70's and it will continue to go down. As the current labor force retires those positions won't be backfilled because they will be automated or the positions will just be phased out due to technology. I think you'll be able to graph it out at our current rate and in 15 years we'll be at our lowest participation rate in history and the doesn't include any new technology that could affect any area of production. If you get some kid that creates something new that will wipe out employment in an industry that number will drop even quicker. If it's a technology that crosses into other industries then the rate falls faster.

originally posted by: stlbrew314
I spoke with my advisor about writing my doctoral thesis on the increase of technology and its effects on the workforce and the economy but he told me that my paper had to be focused in one area such as technology and automation in the auto industry and its effects on employment there. That's fine and dandy but if everyone just writes about a small segment of the economy and never puts it together into a big picture no one is going to know the real state.

My original plan was to write about how as computing power has increased so has our unemployment rate. Basically tie the number of transistors to a chip and the unemployment rate due to automation and technology. I was told I was stupid for wanting to do that.

I firmly believe unemployment will not go down and there will be a new standard for what the unemployment rate will and should be. This coupled with everything else going on in the world and I have no idea how the market hasn't crashed yet.

When you find out why it hasn't affected us more please share. We see it in the 10 minute calls of "press 1 if you want to...." People who are into technology will likely have job security indefinitely as they maintain and think of more ways to make that technology think and do for us.

Making life easier will make life harder ultimately. That is my perspective. It's difficult to see 10-12 years down the road and I bet no one foresaw where we are now in the 70's. Kudos to you if you can get in front of it and inform.

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
And this from the Weather Channel www.weather.com... California Drought Threatens Food Supply of All Americans

"Walk into any grocery store in America and there's a good chance the fresh produce you see there was grown in California. Up to half of the nation's fruit, nuts and vegetables are grown in the Central Valley, one of the planet's most fertile growing regions, between Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Now, for the first time this century, the entire state is in severe to exceptional drought."

That is probably why a small can of mixed nuts cost so much now, however, the price for nuts has been high for a couple of years now. It is plainly obvious that all food is going way up regardless of the reasons.