Thoughts inspired by by Jimmy Dore
I just watched Jimmy Dore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KedlwamzIJ8 where he presented a few points.
Yes, I agree with his comment that delivery people, etc, will still be needed. When Uber first started talking about driverless cars my first thought was that someone would still have to load the luggage. But then he quoted the administration's report that the displaced (isn't that a nice, "no real people were hurt" term?) would have to be "retrained", "especially in STEM fields" (acronym mine; I'm lazy) What STEM jobs? I have a friend who was a chemical engineer. He had to retire at 62 because there was no work for him - anyone with basic training (I could match it with a community college diploma) could simply enter data into a $300 tablet and read out what to do. Who needs a master's degree when there's an algorithm that can do all the necessary calculations?
He also repeats the "bike lanes and running red lights" thing. In the first place, the red lights story came out of SF, but not Pittsburgh (a google search for "self driving cars run red lights in Pittsburgh" turned up nothing but SF references, except for a study by the U. of Minnesota that self driving cars were involved in twice as many accidents as drivered cars - always the fault of a human; apparently self driving cars are in danger of being rear ended after stopping for red lights. (and a snarky article from a Pittsburgh newspaper about how bad Pittsburgh drivers were) Uber claimed that its car was under the control of a human when it ran that red light. I know, trusting Uber is almost as stupid as trusting the CIA, but in this case it is believable. Besides, like the Tesla that hit a white truck because its sensors failed to distinguish the white of the truck from the white of the clouds in the background, that is just a matter of time and technology. That's why you do test runs.
All of this however, is just an illustration of how blind the Obama administration is. They are so trapped in a 1% serving narrative they cannot see the baseball bat hitting them in the face. We are about a generation away from the obsolescence of the very concept of a "job". When Jobs go the way of the dodo it will either be a utopia or an impoverished dystopia. And the deciding factor will be whether our "leadership" remains trapped in a hopeless paradigm that only serves to retain the dominance of the CEO class.
Comments
I was a Planner and worked in job retraining progrsms for 40
years. They do NOT create jobs. The benefit of those funds to the displaced worker for retraining depends on how they are planned and how smart the job seeker is. In 2008, Detroit had unemployed engineers and computer people with advanced degrees who couldn't find work because there were no jobs. Retrain them? For what? Truck drivers? Many left the state for work. Those that stuck around for a hoped turnaround, we did put into training. We finished academic degrees for people who were short one year or less. We paid for Black Belt and other certifications that would embellish their existing skills, credentials, and experience. As I said, you don't take a person like this and retrain them to be an Uber driver. We were one of the few delivery agents prepared to deal with them in any way that provided them a carry away benefit. Most of the others were so focused on low-skilled, non-credentialed people with barriers that they were offering Uber driver and elder care worker training.
They key is to get a good agency and good career counselor who will help the job seeker do the necessary career research and career preparation for a career path that makes sense for them. They are not miracle workers. They cannot create jobs, or make employers hire newly trained and inexperienced staff when they want a minimum of 5 years experience. We cannot make employers stop their disguised discriminatory practices. It is the responsibility of the job seeker to do informational interviews with employers to ascertain if the retraining they are going to spend their time and money on will really qualify them for employment and at what wage. IF they get a good counselor, s/he will facilitate the quality of the of the research and the expediency of the process.
These programs are not a panacea. Some are a million times better than others, and some counselors are a million times more qualified than others. They are a band-aid and a resource for job seekers who are unemployed, in financial trouble, depressed, and up a creek without a paddle.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I remember sitting in the unemployment office looking at a
poster that essentially said the solution to unemployment was training in a STEM field. (Translation: If you lazy bums would just get educated you would have a good job.)
Since I have a PhD in a STEM field it was hard to decide how to apply this advice. Maybe another PhD in a different STEM field? They offered me a training program taking care of elderly patients for 20 hours a week at minimum wage. I would have had to relocate about 70 miles away.
They cannot understand why lazy unemployed ingrates no longer like or trust the government and its programs.
Must be racism, sexism and all the other -isms.
Curious as to why you chose truck driver
when referring to retraining. It seems Walmart cashier would have been more appropriate as most truckers earn a good living although it was better when most of the company's had unions (not many left) I have been a driver for nearly 30 yrs. and have always earned as much as many friends and family members with degrees and I have never had a problem finding a job paying a decent wage.
Yes, but...
I'm talking about what will have to be done in 20 or 30 years, when 60% of us are unemployed and the remaining 40% are all bartenders. I was a taxi driver for 30- years - I know what a dehumanizing job does to you. I rehumanized myself by writing , but not all of us can be writers when we get home from wage slavery, and fewer would want to be. If you think depression and spousal abuse are problems today wait 30 years when everyone is an unemployed Phd, and "job" means sitting in the passenger seat of a self driving delivery truck. It'll not be about finding enough places for everyone. it'll be about finding enough life for everyone.
Any world needs 2 types of people - people who are good at dealing with the world as it is, and people who are good at adjusting for the world as it will be. Today we have neither. Not enough are good at dealing with our dysfunctional world (overwhelmed? I'd say so) and those we need to plan ahead are too busy trying to prop up a collapsing structure.
On to Biden since 1973
So we dump the stupid fucking idea
that we have to work for a living, because technology has now made it possible for many, if not most, of us NOT to do so.
That was the idea of what the future would be back in the 50s and 60s--they believed that labor-saving devices and robots would make most work unnecessary for human beings, who would then be able to devote themselves to the things they love, and to self-improvement, and work on trying to create a better human race--rather than struggling to make enough money to stay alive.
Of course, for that future to come about, you'd have to have a guaranteed income for people to live on.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
So why didn't that happen?
A bad break somewhere, that's my guess.
Ronald Reagan had another
plan. What robots could not be used for they'd use people. And pay them peanuts. So it Did work! Just not for everyone, only for the 1%.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Yes, even power companies see the future
That entails smaller, decentralized, 99.99%+ green, locally-owned and operated, power generation & delivery for lower losses and tailored to the cummunity it serves. And a nightmare for the current PTB, as it provides a level of independence that almost no amount of counter-incentive can replicate (because Rs, Ds, & jeebus knows you can't reduce tax cuts for the wealthy).
Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever
Substance dependency
The sooner we kick the habit on nuclear and fossil fuels, the sooner the planet can start to recover from the toxins pumped into the environment. Maybe Earth will have a slim chance of sustaining life.
Now is a perfect time to start visualizing and/or implementing your own realizable future: The only better time was the moment before you read this.
If you don't make well thought-out plans for your future and act upon them intelligently (hint: sooner the better, but doesn't have to be over-night unless you are blessed and have that capability), someone else will make plans for you (like it or not).
Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever
"..someone else will make plans for you."
Oh yeah.
They call it pork.
Even Mom? Yes, dear. - Babe
Let's just say Obama
won't be missed. Not that we hail
Hitlervictory, but... don't let the door hit Obama in the assthe little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.