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The OP is dismal but it sounds about right. We are absolutely gradually heading in that direction.
When society and the system gets that bad I would rather divorce myself from it rather than continue to play that wretched game. Whatever money you have can be used for some tools, and then get to work living soley off the land in a remote location, in a dollarless life. Of course, there would probably be heavy surveillance, and well enforced regulations that make such an independant lifestyle impossible. A life they aren't draining tax money out of is a life that may not be allowed to exist.
I know what I wrote SOUNDS like science fiction, but it's actually not that far-fetched when you consider just how FEW corporations *currently* control SO much, how much worse will it be 15-20 years from now??
Google/Alphabet - controls much of the internet
Facebook/it's subsidiaries - controls much of social media
Walmart - controls much of the "physical" retail industry
Amazon - controls much of the "online" retail industry
Microsoft - monopoly in the software industry
Only a handful of grocery chain companies - control our entire food supply
Only a handful of oil companies - control the oil industry
Only 6-7 major banks - control most of the country's deposits, checking accounts, savings, etc
Only a handful of drug companies - control the medicines, pills, etc that people depend on
Only a handful of media companies - control what most people see and hear on TV etc
Only a handful of ISP's such as Comcast - control access to the internet itself (a scary thought!! )
And so on and so on, seems we're slowly going "full circle" BACK to the days of robber-barons and "the company store" and crony monopoly-ism
Let's hypothecate another 10-15 years into the future shall we?
America: circa 2032-2033 AD
Person A works a fast-food/service job, then uses his meager pittance paycheck to buy fast food from person B, who also works in the fast-food/service industry. Person B uses his meager peanuts paycheck to dine at XYZ restaurant where person C works as a min wage waiter. Person C uses his meager paycheck to buy fast-food from person A, and so on and so on. With whatever money is left at the end of the month (not much), they do all their discretionary spending at either Wal-Mart or Amazon, the two "sole survivors" of the retail industry (mom n' pop places are all but extinct "like the dinosaurs").
Meanwhile, persons D and E have been totally displaced by automation/robotics and are on welfare and/or living with their parents (who themselves are on their "last legs"). Speaking of "the parents", their very high healthcare/treatment costs are putting them in very real danger of losing their paid-off house and whatever net worth they might have left to medical bills, back taxes, judgments, collectors, etc.
Person F, unable to find work in the new automation/robotics economy, found a way to get on disability and now just scrapes by (barely) on that. Even so, some of his family members (also displaced by automation) have had to shack up with him due to the extremely high rents everywhere.
Person G was one of the lucky ones, he managed to get himself into a secure government job back when times were still good. But as total tax revenues have declined drastically over the years (robots do not pay taxes or buy goods) even he is not so sure his "cushy" government position is really that secure after all.
America now closely resembles Mexico in terms of social stratification, and there is a tiny tiny elite at the top of this MOUNTAIN of human misery and despair. Mr. Shekelstein and his crony special-interest billionaire allies have continued to profit handsomely in the background during the intervening years between "the past" and "the present". They now hold majority stakes in all the various robotics/automation/hi-tech companies.
As for America's politicians, they have continued their "business as usual" lying/telling em' what they wanna hear routine and are mostly doing fine (for themselves ). In Washington, not much has changed, and the bribing/lobbying and backroom deals continue on as they always have.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to live in this "future" The above-mentioned hypothetical scenario doesn't sound like "American dream" at all and sounds more like a 3rd world poverty crap-hole
You forgot about Person H who focused on a proper skill to be able to be marketable in this new automated/robotic world and who avoided wasting money on expensive colleges while choosing either trade tech schools, self education and/or affordable universities that teach the knowledge/skills but aren't bloated name brand money dumps while they worked and paid their way through school a step at a time applying their learned skills to increase their job pay as they did so.
Look, if people find this responsibility too hard, they can find a hole and dig themselves in, I mean... who am I to argue with a self defeatist, they will only be happy in being right.
There's no stopping the increased use of robots. It's not something I'm thrilled about, but any company that doesn't use them to lower costs, will be driven out of business.
You forgot about Person H who focused on a proper skill to be able to be marketable in this new automated/robotic world and who avoided wasting money on expensive colleges while choosing either trade tech schools, self education and/or affordable universities that teach the knowledge/skills but aren't bloated name brand money dumps while they worked and paid their way through school a step at a time applying their learned skills to increase their job pay as they did so.
Look, if people find this responsibility too hard, they can find a hole and dig themselves in, I mean... who am I to argue with a self defeatist, they will only be happy in being right.
We can't possibly re-train 7-8 billion people to be robot technicians and mechanics, and even if we did, the jobs would quickly turn into low-wage McJobs overnight (worker over-supply/over-saturation effect).
I'm afraid that "this time" will be different, there's just too many people/too many mouths to feed this time around, and there won't be enough living wage jobs to go around
Mass poverty seems inevitable, unfortunately
Really has nothing to do with "just get a good college degree", it's even theorized that some white collar jobs will go before the blue collar jobs go. There really is no telling what is "safe" at this point (other than "politician" of course )
I know what I wrote SOUNDS like science fiction, but it's actually not that far-fetched when you consider just how FEW corporations *currently* control SO much, how much worse will it be 15-20 years from now??
Google/Alphabet - controls much of the internet
Facebook/it's subsidiaries - controls much of social media
Walmart - controls much of the "physical" retail industry
Amazon - controls much of the "online" retail industry
Microsoft - monopoly in the software industry
Only a handful of grocery chain companies - control our entire food supply
Only a handful of oil companies - control the oil industry
Only 6-7 major banks - control most of the country's deposits, checking accounts, savings, etc
Only a handful of drug companies - control the medicines, pills, etc that people depend on
Only a handful of media companies - control what most people see and hear on TV etc
Only a handful of ISP's such as Comcast - control access to the internet itself (a scary thought!! )
And so on and so on, seems we're slowly going "full circle" BACK to the days of robber-barons and "the company store" and crony monopoly-ism
That's a daunting list. Oh well, video killed the radio star. I hope they're kind to us all. lol
We can't possibly re-train 7-8 billion people to be robot technicians and mechanics, and even if we did, the jobs would quickly turn into low-wage McJobs overnight (worker over-supply/over-saturation effect).
I'm afraid that "this time" will be different, there's just too many people/too many mouths to feed this time around, and there won't be enough living wage jobs to go around
Mass poverty seems inevitable, unfortunately
Really has nothing to do with "just get a good college degree", it's even theorized that some white collar jobs will go before the blue collar jobs go. There really is no telling what is "safe" at this point (other than "politician" of course )
Exactly. Pretty hard to focus on the few marketable skills that are still available when competing with billions of others. Watch those wages just fall like a rock.
Public Universities Tuittion Free
Single paid Health Care Insurance with no copays and with no deductibles including Medicines
Low military Expenses, Mexicans have not had any war in the late 90 years.
Maternity Leave full paid for three months
Up to 20 Days of Paid Vacations by Law.
And if you want to have Private Education and Private Health care you can get them and Medicine prices still quite affordable.
But you will lose your Sense of Imperialistic supremacy.
We can't possibly re-train 7-8 billion people to be robot technicians and mechanics, and even if we did, the jobs would quickly turn into low-wage McJobs overnight (worker over-supply/over-saturation effect).
I'm afraid that "this time" will be different, there's just too many people/too many mouths to feed this time around, and there won't be enough living wage jobs to go around
Mass poverty seems inevitable, unfortunately
Really has nothing to do with "just get a good college degree", it's even theorized that some white collar jobs will go before the blue collar jobs go. There really is no telling what is "safe" at this point (other than "politician" of course )
Good points. Any job/career can be turned into a McJob when people are desperate for work and there is too much competition.
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)
). In Washington, not much has changed, and the bribing/lobbying and backroom deals continue on as they always have.
