Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojkt“Layoffs too often became permanent, not part of the business cycle. And these changes didn’t just affect blue collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs and the internet,” President Obama said at a campaign event in Kansas.
Which is true, as far as it goes, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to take from it. At one point, 90% of American jobs involved agriculture. Now almost none of them do. But we aren’t suffering from 80% unemployment. More time allows for more people to do different kinds of jobs, but there’s almost always somebody willing to pay for something.
Ace of Spades rebuts. My personal experience has been that almost all my jobs involved the Internet in some way, post 1995. The jobs I had post-2001 were web-retailing jobs, up until 2009, and simply would not have existed, if not for the Internet. Then I got my current position doing database stuff. Still, I think technological innovation is a net positive, even if it costs some jobs. I imagine many of those jobs will come back in other forms, especially for a younger generation more likely to be schooled in the sorts of things that are in demand. But even those suffering benefit from automation of production, automation in agriculture, etc.
I don’t think holding back the tide of innovation to save brick-and-mortar—or mom-and-pop—shops is something that can succeed. I feel sorry for the folks employed by the maker of buggy whips, but markets change.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
Actually there are far, far, more bank branches and tellers than there were before the internet, and the phone operator jobs are now trouble shooters FOR the internet companies, but what's accuracy among friends.
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Obama is a solution in search of a problem
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In this speech candidate Obama makes a forcefull case against the actions of the current administration with regards to regulation of Wall Street. Unfortunately, the current administration also happens to be headed by a President with the last name Obama.Full text of President Obama’s economic speech in Osawatomie, Kans.
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So, it's not because of ATM 's?
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So, it's not because of ATM 's?ATM's are also to blame. Of course, folks service and maintain and construct the ATMs, get the cash into them, and those are all jobs . . . and there are still tellers in the bank when I go inside. Usually a full raft of them. More than there are checkout people at the Super Target, which has 30 check out lanes and two checkers actually working at any given time. So I'm not sure what the problem is.
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I wonder how much the internet is having a secondary effect on jobs. Example – this weekend I repaired my dishwasher, a project that I never would have known how to do without the aid of a 5 minute youtube video. I'm not exactly handy, but the internet made a task that started off as a foreign concept painfully easy. I would have willingly paid to have it repaired and/or replaced. So for the cost of a part and a some time, I saved myself the cost of service call and/or replacement at the expense of a repair service and/or new dishwasher sale. So now the starting point for future jobs isn't "how much to repair?" but "can I do it myself?"
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for those interested I used repair clinic
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NoVA:I wonder how much the internet is having a secondary effect on jobs.The internet has, on the whole, almost certainly added jobs to the economy, I would think.
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Technology has always created more jobs in the past then it has destroyed, and Malthus has rolled over in his grave many times.There is something a bit different in the living present, say since 1990. 1] The need for a higher standard of basic ed for the work force has increased faster than the number of Americans equipped and trained appropriately; and2] globalization has stripped the manufacturing base of lower skilled jobs.We all know this is true. I think 1] is addressed with and by community colleges, however "imperfectly". Perhaps if BHO had said it the way I did he would have got more traction here.2] is trickier. Globalization can be a great thing, increasing trade everywhere. But some folks are gaming the system, IMO.
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Thanks for the link, NoVa. We have a seal problem with our GE fridge that I think causes a moisture build-up and then a several hundred dollar repair. I'd like to replace the seal before the summer time.It's not just the internet. There's many cases of a dozen unskilled jobs being replaced by one skilled worker and some machines. Not to fear, though. I visited Kent State about a year ago and had some interesting discussions. There is actual on shoring. A high skill, high wage economy can compete. Just ask Germany. BB
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nova:Do won't, when your repair goes awry, you will pay much more, BUT the repairman will give you the gloating and silent smirking for free at least! LOL
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How about the repairman who, when I specifically asked for said seal on the fridge to be fixed while the control board was being replaced (FOR THE SECOND TIME), blew me off? Although I am a long time user of Macintosh and various Apple iThingies, I'm disturbed by its increasing trend of making everything into a black box that the consumer dare not touch. Batteries and hard drives wear out. It'd be nice to be able to replace such parts without an operation. I'm capable of doing it (and have), but they make it harder than necessary and I can't say as I notice the 5 mm thinner that the laptop is as a consequence.We're about to be in the market for a new computer. One option is a laptop and I'm convinced that an SSD is the way to go. I'd like to be able to replace the hard drive with an SSD once prices come down a little further. For past MacBooks, that wasn't a problem. They've fixed that little problem.BB
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I would not buy a laptop whose hard drive could not be replaced.Are you committed to Apple for the next one?If not, 180Gig SSDs SATA-3 interface can be had below $200.If a laptop is not required, you can build your own relatively compact desktop using a smaller 128GB SSD for the OS or OSs and Apps while using a cheap big Winchester TB for docs, movies, photos, etc.I find that by building my desktops at home and at work I can modularly rebuild them from time to time very easily.
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You can replace Macbook hard drives. It's not as easy as it used to be, but it's definitely doable. Replacing the batteries is more difficult, and an expensive proposition (compared to same on a PC laptop) to boot. Replacing a hard drive in an iMac is actually more difficult, as it requires a suction cup tool with which to remove the screen. I'd hope not to require a second hard drive. But they do make it harder than necessary. I know of no effective way for a layperson, such as myself, to replace a battery in an iPhone. I'm still using all my iPhones in some capacity, but it would be nice if they didn't have to be charged so frequently.Still, we've got several iMacs in the office here, and if I can get one in the budget, I certainly will. It's a high price to pay for the sweet, sweet Apple goodness. But, if it's in the budget, I'm willing to pay it. Of course, at home, we have PC laptops (it's price, not expandability, that makes that decision: 100%).But I will eventually replace our aging desktops (one Mac is 6 years old, the other is 9, and still work fine–I don't have, and never have had, and PCs that would still be active daily work machines almost a decade later) with Mac minis. Given the modestly price Mac minis are more spacious and more powerful than our old tower Macs at this point, I'm perfectly happy to get back the desk space our Mac towers eat up. But, not this year. Because, chances are, 3 years from now, my ancient Macs will still make perfectly serviceable work machines. In fact, all my problems with my old Macs are arbitrary (back to Apple's walled garden), not practical. Apple prevents things like the picture purchasing function of iPhoto to work in older versions of iPhoto now, so I can't buy pictures through iPhoto without upgrading my hardware. Because I can't run the current Intel-only version of iLife, because it only runs on Snow Leopard, which I cannot buy for my PowerPC machines. Most of which is arbitary–certainly, shutting down the ability to purchase photos out of iPhoto is arbitrary. There's nothing PowerPC to support in that functionality. But . . . Apple wants to get us old PowerPC stragglers, using our still perfectly functional and solid-performing PowerPC Macs, into the 21st century. Although one is from 2002 and the other from 2005. It's just a long time to be using the same computer . . . our desktop PC has been replaced twice in that time (and does very light service). My daughters Windows laptop is being replaced, after 3 years, with a newer one. Still, I can by 3 Windows laptop for the price of one Macintosh laptop.
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*buy 3 Windows laptops for the price of one Macintosh laptop. I like the Macintosh laptop better, I admit, and would just buy it if money were no object. But money *is* and object, and as much as I like the Macintosh–it's not 3 times better for 3 times the price. Although I think the price for the Mac Mini is nicely competitive.
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All tablets attempting to compete with Apple or Kindle, don't bother.While there are things to complain about from Apple, if you want a tablet post-PC device (so to speak), the iPad still can't be beat. Not even close.
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