Catholic Lay Charity Rejects Walmart Grant

[iloveangels]

Well, my own perception is that in spite of what the real wage numbers may be, that the standard of living has improved dramatically in four or five decades. What worries me for the US and Europe is that the middle class may be reset to a level which would be below what we now consider to be the poverty level, if wages are normalized to a global standard due to the equivalency of labor around the world, and its availability due to technology.

You may well have something to worry about there, epan. I think this is exactly what’s going to happen. And you don’t want to be on the bottom when it does. All the more reason not to take the charity of the government, and to try to perform at a high level in society. This is the best reason to learn Algebra/Science/good work habits, etc. American students have ever had. Unfortunately, many of them are too short-sighted, lazy & coddled to realize it.

Looking further down the road, it is not too far fetched to imagine a day in which robotics and computers have replaced most labor intensive jobs. If that happens, then what is a fair distribution of wealth?

There will always be a place for manual laborers. It’s just that people qualified to be manual laborers in some countries will for a time refuse to perform as manual laborers because they’ve been taught to have that attitude, even though they do not have the skills to do anything else and will not be able to develop those skills even under the best of conditions.

I must remind you that in a global world, there are plenty of hard-working, deserving and bright young people who will be happy for the chances they get to improve their lives by their own hard work and the use of their talents. Unfortunately, many of them do not live here.

 

[epan]

There will always be a place for manual laborers.

That view might be considered quaint before long. I predict the elimination of more than 50%, perhaps more than 75% of manual labor. The robotics revolution will be as profound as the information revolution, except that the rate of change is increasing, so it will happen much faster.

This is a fundamental issue for our societies. Yet, our politicians publicly babble about tax policy, and secretly figure out whose corporate interests to advance to take money from, which is essentially irrelevant to the true changes which are occurring right now.

 

[iloveangels]

That view might be considered quaint before long. I predict the elimination of more than 50%, perhaps more than 75% of manual labor. The robotics revolution will be as profound as the information revolution, except that the rate of change is increasing, so it will happen much faster.

This is a fundamental issue for our societies. Yet, our politicians publicly babble about tax policy, and secretly figure out whose corporate interests to advance to take money from, which is essentially irrelevant to the true changes which are occurring right now.

When there are very rich people and very poor people at the same time, some of the poor will be used as waiters and servants for the rich. No one will want a robot for that when you can have a human being. This is human nature.

For manufacturing, you may be right however. Robots, if they can be maintained and programmed properly are superior on the assembly line. Many people will not be able to maintain and program them though. That’s a skilled occupation.

 

[epan]

When there are very rich people and very poor people at the same time, some of the poor will be used as waiters and servants for the rich. No one will want a robot for that when you can have a human being. This is human nature.

For manufacturing, you may be right however. Robots, if they can be maintained and programmed properly are superior on the assembly line. Many people will not be able to maintain and program them though. That’s a skilled occupation.

The reason that you can buy a hyundai that will go 500,000 miles for a fraction of the cost in real wages of what a chrysler which would run for 100,000 miles a few decades ago is robotics and microprocessing.

You have pointed out that service positions cannot be replaced by robotics, which is partially true. But I agree with you on that.

One thing that has been historic fact is that the most extreme predictions have been shown to be conservative, when it comes to technology. The middle class will disappear very soon, as we know it, unless we come up with an alternative. The 1% has control of our government, and has no particular interest in protecting the middle classes. I see this as short sighted greed, and I think that it will not benefit the rich in the long run. They will regret it, as we all will.

Just look at what has happened to education under the control of the 1%. It is short sighted and greedy in the moment, without regard to the general welfare of all.

I had the privilege of a one per center’s education. I decided to take a summer course at a state college on a topic that interested me. It was like going to a zoo to learn about astrophysics. I was really surprised at how ignorant I was about the current state of even higher education. And these people were going into debt on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per year for this. Our educational system is broken.

 

[iloveangels]

The reason that you can buy a hyundai that will go 500,000 miles for a fraction of the cost in real wages of what a chrysler which would run for 100,000 miles a few decades ago is robotics and microprocessing.

You have pointed out that service positions cannot be replaced by robotics, which is partially true. But I agree with you on that.

In the 70s, when Japanese cars started to come into this country, the difference wasn’t microprocessors and robotics. The difference was quality and reliability. You could buy a Toyota sight unseen off the deck of a boat 1000 miles away and be more confident of your purchase than buying a Plymouth at the dealership down the road.

Quality and performance on American cars was just horrific. I mean “cracked engine block,” “falling off doors in traffic” horrific. The “lemon” rate was enormous, and new car rattles were often due to junk in the door panels put there on the assembly line out of spite. Pop cans, cigarette butts and stuff. It was ridiculous.

One thing that has been historic fact is that the most extreme predictions have been shown to be conservative, when it comes to technology. The middle class will disappear very soon, as we know it, unless we come up with an alternative. The 1% has control of our government, and has no particular interest in protecting the middle classes. I see this as short sighted greed, and I think that it will not benefit the rich in the long run. They will regret it, as we all will.

Just look at what has happened to education under the control of the 1%. It is short sighted and greedy in the moment, without regard to the general welfare of all.

The problems with education have nothing to do with the 1%-ers as you call them. The US used to have the finest public education in the world, and it was possible for any kid regardless of family to get a good education. I used to teach. American children don’t want to learn. They don’t think it’s important. You can’t make them. They’re all focused on entertainment, sex and substance abuse.

I had the privilege of a one per center’s education. I decided to take a summer course at a state college on a topic that interested me. It was like going to a zoo to learn about astrophysics. I was really surprised at how ignorant I was about the current state of even higher education. And these people were going into debt on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per year for this. Our educational system is broken.

The higher education in this country is broken NOW because the problems have traveled up from the lower grades. It’s performance deflation simply because all the students are prepared far more poorly now than they used to be. I’ve taken college classes on and off throughout my life, and I’ve seen the quality of education absolutely dive because the quality of the students has dropped off dramatically.

Now that’s not so true of graduate classes though. There’s a big jump between undergrad & grad classes in some subjects. If you go over to your nearest big public university, you’ll find that most of the graduate students in the sciences, math and engineering aren’t Americans. They’re Asian, and they’re good, they’re driven and they know why they’re there. American students can’t compete most of the time with them, and so they don’t.

 

[iloveangels]

I remember one brand new Plymouth I bought years ago. The darned thing was delivered to me with a cracked head, and the dealership insisted on replacing parts rather than changing out the engine, so it was damaged goods at full price to start with. And the windows were “engineered” with a slant towards the top of the car, so that when it rained outside, it rained in on you while you were driving. That’s how it was designed. Individual cars varied in how bad they were because variation was that bad from car to car. I used to drive around in my brand new car mopping up the water that was coming in.

I bought another one and the darn thing wouldn’t start when it was below about 40 degrees F. Zip. And they kept telling me there was nothing wrong with it and wouldn’t fix it. The same car burst into flames while I was driving down the freeway one day with my kids. Last one of that brand I ever bought.

Had another one, different brand, that used to vapor-lock in traffic. You’d be going along 60 miles an hour in heavy traffic and the thing would just stop dead cold. Period. You’d have to dodge traffic and try not to get killed getting over to the side of the road. And then sit around and read a book for 20 minutes til the car cooled down enough to start again. I spent more time sitting on the curb when I owned that car. Dangerous to drive in the city or on the freeway. It was a junker from day one. Cra**y American junk.

Pretty though. American cars were always pretty. We had one that was gorgeous, a coupe. White on the outside, red on the inside. Sporty, pretty. Doors kept trying to fall off when it was NEW. They sagged so bad they went clunk when you opened them, and to close them you had to lift them or they wouldn’t latch. This is a 6 month old car with 5000 miles on it, mind you.

The first Japanese cars that came into this country were UGLY. You basically got to pick a color and an alternate color in case your color wasn’t available: black, gray or baby puke yellow. Japanese colors were strange. But they were miracle cars after what we had put up with before that. They went and went and went, and they were engineered perfectly. Deming-style. Do you know who Deming was? They took the market by storm in just a decade or so because people were fed up with junk.

The only reason American cars are halfway decent now is because they had to learn to compete or go completely out of business. That and a lot of them merged with foreign car companies, and that’s what we have now, the products of mergers.

 

[iloveangels]

In the 70s, when Japanese cars started to come into this country, the difference wasn’t microprocessors and robotics. The difference was quality and reliability. You could buy a Toyota sight unseen off the deck of a boat 1000 miles away and be more confident of your purchase than buying an American car at the dealership down the road.

Quality and performance on American cars was just horrific. I mean “cracked engine block,” “falling off doors in traffic” horrific. The “lemon” rate was enormous, and new car rattles were often due to junk in the door panels put there on the assembly line out of spite. Pop cans, cigarette butts and stuff. It was ridiculous.

The problems with education have nothing to do with the 1%-ers as you call them. The US used to have the finest public education in the world, and it was possible for any kid regardless of family to get a good education. I used to teach. American children don’t want to learn. They don’t think it’s important. You can’t make them. They’re all focused on entertainment, sex and substance abuse.

The higher education in this country is broken NOW because the problems have traveled up from the lower grades. It’s performance deflation simply because all the students are prepared far more poorly now than they used to be. I’ve taken college classes on and off throughout my life, and I’ve seen the quality of education absolutely dive because the quality of the students has dropped off dramatically.

Now that’s not so true of graduate classes though. There’s a big jump between undergrad & grad classes in some subjects. If you go over to your nearest big public university, you’ll find that most of the graduate students in the sciences, math and engineering aren’t Americans. They’re Asian, and they’re good, they’re driven and they know why they’re there. American students can’t compete most of the time with them, and so they don’t.