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There are now 65-million people living on Social Security only, SSI only or a combination of SS an SSI only.
Every election season, the politicians pander to these folks for votes ... and then ignore them for the next 4-years. Of course, it's difficult to wean people out of poverty in a system that trades votes to expand government-dependence over self-reliance.
I don't think these figures count smaller metros that are not technically rural but still have a bad economy. I'm in an area of about 500k, but the economy isn't unified - it's a bunch of bickering small towns heavily skewed toward the 65+ crowd.
There have to be millions more in areas like mine that don't meet this rural threshold, but are effectively dysfunctional.
The biggest change from about 1990 is that manufacturing went away. I worked for an electronics company that dropped local employment from 3300 to 350 by moving manufacturing to Asia. The survivors were the design engineers and the supply chain management people. The manufacturing employees were fired. Today, most of them are either retired or they work in a low paying job such as retail.
What we are seeing today is the result of changes like that all over the country and world.
......... Automation and other increases in productivity will result in a situation where there are far more people than jobs.
........
I disagree entirely. I worked in a field that became highly automated, where productivity per worker jumped by orders of magnitude. Prices dropped, quality rose, and demand went through the roof offsetting what would otherwise have been a devastating loss of jobs. Newer products arose and demand for them also grew.
What I see happening is a loss of low skilled jobs some of which used to pay well. The loss is partly due to automation, partly due to a lagging economy, partly due to globalization. Even more important has been the trends toward efficiency and mass scale which was occurring without the recession and without globalization. Just because we no longer need handmade buggy whips does not mean that there will be no jobs in the future.
I can't believe you didn't realize it's only because government has become a behemoth. It's a fantasy land built on corruption and cronyism. the same reason college costs have been spiked so outrageously. Money laundering through the student. Country club colleges, fake grants and political Progressivism.
Wrong and so very wrong. There is a surge of private companies in the area drawn by schools, state incentives (Virginia) and the available talent pool. It has become a self fulfilling chain. If anyone thinks the upcoming election will change the role of government in the NOVA/Maryland economy they are kidding themselves. Trump can close several departments and the intended increase in defense and national security spending will require a level of technical skill available in the DC area and not available or attracted to many other areas of the country and a surge in related spending and hiring.
For you I am sure but for others it is about the fundamental structural changes in our economy and the world and their impact on people and oh yeah investments and where to live.
I disagree entirely. I worked in a field that became highly automated, where productivity per worker jumped by orders of magnitude. Prices dropped, quality rose, and demand went through the roof offsetting what would otherwise have been a devastating loss of jobs. Newer products arose and demand for them also grew.
What I see happening is a loss of low skilled jobs some of which used to pay well. The loss is partly due to automation, partly due to a lagging economy, partly due to globalization. Even more important has been the trends toward efficiency and mass scale which was occurring without the recession and without globalization. Just because we no longer need handmade buggy whips does not mean that there will be no jobs in the future.
Here is a pretty balanced article that presents both views:
History favors your view, but I am in the "this time is different" crowd because I do believe this time is very different. Previous waves of automation increased worker productivity while many of the current robotics advances can eliminate them entirely. It is technically possible to eliminate every single job on the factory floor in some cases; you can run a warehouse with nothing but robots. In each case, there are techs to maintain them but the ratio of jobs lost to jobs created would be quite high. If people get over this notion that we can drive better than machines (the data is pretty clear; we can't even come close), a lot more jobs will disappear. Adoption of kiosks has been slowed far more by social blowback than technical hurdles.
History favors your view, but I am in the "this time is different" crowd because I do believe this time is very different. Previous waves of automation increased worker productivity while many of the current robotics advances can eliminate them entirely. It is technically possible to eliminate every single job on the factory floor in some cases; you can run a warehouse with nothing but robots. In each case, there are techs to maintain them but the ratio of jobs lost to jobs created would be quite high. If people get over this notion that we can drive better than machines (the data is pretty clear; we can't even come close), a lot more jobs will disappear. Adoption of kiosks has been slowed far more by social blowback than technical hurdles.
I don't see it different than in the past. In the past a great many jobs were also outright eliminated. When armor was no longer needed, the armorers found new jobs making canons and firearms. The people who used to make wagon wheels and buggy whips have been replaced by millions of people who work in the transportation industries.
One of the reasons I posted this in the retirement section is because many areas of the country are losing young people with talent and skills and older people with the means in retirement. This is leaving others behind with perhaps a declining tax base and little hope for growth in the area. Twenty years ago many in the mid sixties retired, read the tea leaves and transplanted to place like Raleigh where they could see economic growth and a greater elder care infrastructure to develop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle_Park
Created in 1959 Research Triangle Park has become the hub of growth and prosperity for Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill NC. It attracted not just well educated talent and families but also retirees who read the tea leaves and have prospered from the economic growth and increase in home equity and retirement services. Currently having two Del Webb active 55 communities within the Triangle inhabited by residents from across the country. Some followed kids others read the tea leaves.
Research, analysis and applied application is not a political activity but a personal improvement activity that SOME elect to engage in. Others have other approaches to life's challenges. Some would say that those retirees or near retirees who in 2009 followed their political instincts and sat out the equity and bond market have in the intervening years paid a price in personal wealth. Sorta like being an individual stock investor in 2001 and not investing in Dick Cheney's former baby Haliburton because of politics.
To each their own and once again this thread reflects that sentiment and the resulting outcomes of.
One of the reasons I posted this in the retirement section is because many areas of the country are losing young people with talent and skills and older people with the means in retirement. This is leaving others behind with perhaps a declining tax base and little hope for growth in the area............
When I retired in 2011, I spent a month in NC and nearby areas. I was shocked at rural NC. The economy had died when first cotton vanished and then the tobacco industry all but vanished. Many areas are beyond recovery in my lifetime or the foreseeable future. To make it even worse the old Southern bigotry was alive and well with lots of Rebel flags and fake canons pointing to the street. I will never forget that short trip, nor do I ever want to visit those areas again.
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