The twenty dollar Big Mac

[August]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Is there any really major manufacturing company lost in the last 5 years other than in the automobile industry? If not, what jobs then are we looking to replace?

Why limit it to just 5 years? This trend has been going on since the 70's We can't retrain our way out of this. No matter how motivated and educated people are there just aren't enough jobs to employ all of them.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by August

Why limit it to just 5 years? This trend has been going on since the 70's We can't retrain our way out of this. No matter how motivated and educated people are there just aren't enough jobs to employ all of them.

The last five years was extremely fluid in job loss as well as closing companies and housing bubble burst. A time when a division between lower wage jobs and high paying wages is very visible.

[August]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

The last five years was extremely fluid in job loss as well as closing companies and housing bubble burst. A time when a division between lower wage jobs and high paying wages is very visible.

I don't disagree with that but I wonder what it has to do with recognizing the problem.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by August

I don't disagree with that but I wonder what it has to do with recognizing the problem.

See post #33. It backs up your assertion here:

August:

I think the point is that McDonalds type jobs are poor replacements for the high paying manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas.

When I was a youngster you either went to college (if you could afford it and had the smarts for it) or you went down to the local factory and applied for a job that you could hold onto for your entire working life without having to learn all that much or really compete to get. One that paid enough to put your kids through college. Perfect for the HS graduate with no great passion for a particular line of work.

But those days are gone now and all that is left for those folks, and there are many, many of them, is low paying service sector jobs that don't offer a living wage.

[em2nought]

Sitting on one's posterior waiting for someone else to create a job for you probably won't end well. I guess if cell phones were cheaper people might take the money they had left over and buy a chicken coop, or dig a fish pond, plant a vegetable garden, buy storage units and sell the stuff on craigslist, etc. Sounds like too much work for the average modern day american though.

[August]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

See post #33. It backs up your assertion here:

August:

Well I don't know if the answer is to replace manufacturing jobs with new manufacturing jobs. After all even though the reason these jobs went away is that they weren't economically competitive that's not the only obstacle we'd have to overcome to bring them back. Modern technology has severely reduced the need for humans to do them.

I watch a lot of the railroad documentaries from the 40's and 50's and one thing that is readily apparent in all of them is just how labor intensive everything was back then. What took 100 strong men now takes 1 button pusher. So what do we do with the other 99 people?

[AVGWarhawk]

August:

So what do we do with the other 99 people?

Sign them up for a government job!

Robotics has taken people out of the picture. It is a conglomerate of items that has brought us to this juncture. But, still bringing back some manufacturing that went overseas will help. Even so, we still do manufacture quite a bit.

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

August:


Sign them up for a government job!

I hear FEMA is looking for people to work in those Death Camps.


As far as I know you still need someone to clean and maintain the guillotines.