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employers are not slave masters they are people that provide jobs.
no debt and owning your home free and clear would put u in the position to pick and choose if and when u work. most americans have been given a shot at that, but had other priorities.
Well, the great depression lasted, by many measures, a whole decade to a decade and a half. In hindsight, that was not the "new norm". Nobody can say for certain where we are headed, and where we will end up. All we can do is do our best given the current circumstances, yet hope for the best tomorrow. I'm hesitant to say this is the new norm, because at the top of the market, nobody thinks things could plummet, and at the bottom of the market, nobody believes things will get better. Following the natural progression of economics, labor markets, ect has taught me these things are not static.
I agree things are not static, but what alarms me is (a) 8 million were axed, corps produced MORE, made more money, did not lose a beat, (b) Automation will greatly increase the rate of future job losses, and (c) There is no dotcom or Y2K new job growth engine.
In short, I think 2008-2012 may look good relative to say, 2018, 2028, 2038...
In that case, go rob a bank...you can sit in prison and get three hots and a cot. That is, if you get caught.
better plan is go learn a trade. high skilled trades are in demand. no phd required. and the cost is much less than the gen ed advanced degree and will actually result in a job.
I agree things are not static, but what alarms me is (a) 8 million were axed, corps produced MORE, made more money, did not lose a beat, (b) Automation will greatly increase the rate of future job losses, and (c) There is no dotcom or Y2K new job growth engine.
In short, I think 2008-2012 may look good relative to say, 2018, 2028, 2038...
Automation is also what has been bringing a lot of work back to the good ol U.S.A. Like it or hate it, it is what is keeping us competitive on the global scale. Aside from that, we also do a lot of building of those automated systems. Many foreign corporations continue to invest in America by building their facilities here to produce many of the products available for our market. This is great news. You also will need people to transport these goods, whether it be the forklift operator or truck driver, people to package them, clean them, inspect them, and so on. Just because some processes are automated, doesn't mean all processes will be, or can be automated.
The biggest problem I have is many of those secondary operations are being performed by illegal aliens, instead of our own citizens. A blind eye is presently turned towards this issue I believe because no one wants to take a chance of driving these companies to cheaper wage nations. I have read from many sources that if you removed every working illegal alien from this country, we would have full employment. I have walked through many factories in the Chicagoland area that are literately 90% illegal aliens. You say hi and they look at you puzzled. I'm sorry, but if a Hispanic looking person in this country does not know what "hi" means, than you can safety say they do not belong here. Yet there they are, armies of them toiling away while many American citizens are desperately in need of employment of any kind. Only in America
better plan is go learn a trade. high skilled trades are in demand. no phd required. and the cost is much less than the gen ed advanced degree and will actually result in a job.
These high skilled trades also take years to master, and employers are in no mood to start teaching. Companies were in such a race to place the lowest bid possible that they have simply cut out the costs of training years ago. Corporations had no interest in accepting bids that could support apprentice opportunities. For all they knew, these skilled trade workers took a few months to train. This is why there is growing demand, and it will only get worse. The reason I have always been a supporter of unions in the skilled trades is because they were always very generous when it came to setting money aside for training the next generation, and providing livable wages for them. In many trades, there is no "next generation". This is very troubling, and we will most likely loose a great deal of our future ability to handle much of this high value, livable income work. Nobody is going to bother to learn a trade that has an introductory wage of $8/hr except drug addicts and illegals.
These high skilled trades also take years to master, and employers are in no mood to start teaching. Companies were in such a race to place the lowest bid possible that they have simply cut out the costs of training years ago. Corporations had no interest in accepting bids that could support apprentice opportunities. For all they knew, these skilled trade workers took a few months to train. This is why there is growing demand, and it will only get worse. The reason I have always been a supporter of unions in the skilled trades is because they were always very generous when it came to setting money aside for training the next generation, and providing livable wages for them. In many trades, there is no "next generation". This is very troubling, and we will most likely loose a great deal of our future ability to handle much of this high value, livable income work. Nobody is going to bother to learn a trade that has an introductory wage of $8/hr except drug addicts and illegals.
and that my friend, that justification for not moving forward, is why all the electricians in the electricians shack @SDGE, speak spanish.
Automation is also what has been bringing a lot of work back to the good ol U.S.A. Like it or hate it, it is what is keeping us competitive on the global scale. Aside from that, we also do a lot of building of those automated systems. Many foreign corporations continue to invest in America by building their facilities here to produce many of the products available for our market. This is great news. You also will need people to transport these goods, whether it be the forklift operator or truck driver, people to package them, clean them, inspect them, and so on. Just because some processes are automated, doesn't mean all processes will be, or can be automated.
True, but there will not be that many jobs from those things. Many facilities and DCs use automated systems now to move goods around , which has largely eliminated jobs like forklift operator. Watch MSNBC's first Wal Mart documentary-in their DCs, goods flow more than a football feild down multiple conveyors, and from the moment it is moved by an employee off the SKU, it touches NO hands, and is automatically loaded onto trucks. Bar codes act like traffic cops, moving it amongst an unfathomable quantity of different conveyors, to get it to the right truck.
On a smaller scale, we use the same concepts to automate material movement in our facilities, where volume is enough to justify cost of equipment required.
True, but there will not be that many jobs from those things. Many facilities and DCs use automated systems now to move goods around , which has largely eliminated jobs like forklift operator. Watch MSNBC's first Wal Mart documentary-in their DCs, goods flow more than a football feild down multiple conveyors, and from the moment it is moved by an employee off the SKU, it touches NO hands, and is automatically loaded onto trucks. Bar codes act like traffic cops, moving it amongst an unfathomable quantity of different conveyors, to get it to the right truck.
On a smaller scale, we use the same concepts to automate material movement in our facilities, where volume is enough to justify cost of equipment required.
Yes, many of those automated systems are cost effective in large facilities, especially where the same parts are being produced all year round. Many smaller job shops can not profitably implement these systems, as they may handle work in the quantities of hundreds on the high sides. I typically deal with parts that require orders of 5-10 on the high end, where using 30-40 year old equipment is the most favorable method. This happens to be some of the most profitable work I have dealt with, where parts can be worth in the thousands per piece. Screw ups can be extremely expensive, so wages tend to be considerably higher per worker compared to typical production environments. I have seen parts being made that are even in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Talk about stress.... But it's where the money is as far as manufacturing goes. What is considered outdated technology is typical automated environments fits in perfectly in other environments.
The red lines above are conflicting, why is there recovery if this is the new normal? By definition, there would not be. The present would be the future, too.
Now I've noticied people are more accepting of the economic reset in 2012, than in 2010.
I think most people don't really care that there are millions who still unemployed or underemployed. As long as it is not them, then that is all that matters. Many Americans have the attitude that as long as my bank account still looks good, then things are fine. They don't really care that their neighbor is living off ramen noodles and feeding Hamburger Helper to their kids 7 nights a week because thats all they can get from the food bank.
It is like saying....
If I can buy an Ipad, why should I care that my neighbor can't buy his medication?
I just bought a new plasma TV, why should I care that my neighbor has been laid off and his house is in foreclosure?
I just bought the latest Iphone, why should I care that Susie has been unemployed for 99 weeks, is giving up looking for work, and just tried to commit suicide?
Many Americans have these attitudes. It is all about me and that's what matters. Trouble is, ANYONE can find themselves unemployed and broke these days.
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