It appears that the economy is starting to show some activity,
although it, in all likelihood, will be too late for affect the elections.
The news is that job demand is not where it was before
all hell broke loose two or three years ago, and every since.
The demand for employees is at two levels: the highly skilled
and educated sector, and low-paying service jobs. The people
being left out are the great middle class, the manufacturing jobs.
What that means is that we are living through a structural shift
in our economy, from an industrial, heavy manufacturing base
to a much more technological economy. And that was inevitable.
Heavy manufacturing jobs are where former agricultural people
go for work. That happened first in England, America, and Europe.
As agriculture learned to take advantage of industrial processes,
making large families and swarms of farm workers unnecessary--
a shift from muscle to steam, electrical, and hydrocarbon power,
the surplus farm people moved to the cities and made tractors,
cars, trains, boats, planes, tools, batteries, roads, airports, etc.
Today, that labor force is found by the billions in developing
nations: China, India, Latin America, Korea, and everywhere
where industrialization has not yet come, full force. We cannot
compete with them in terms of cheap labor. It is inevitable.
What has to happen, and what will happen, although slowly,
is that their wages will eventually rise, as ours did, but that
will happen slowly; altogether too slowly for our work force.
We have to do two things. First, we have to recognize clearly
that our long-term future is precisely in the areas that are beginning
to show: high tech, highly educated, sophisticated work that is
built atop the old industrial base, beyond it. We have to invest
in research, top-notch education, development, the new sources of
energy that must replace coal and oil, and not try to recapure
the agriculture-to-heavy industrial sector.
The second thing we have to do is be honest and recognize
that we have a large part of our former work force that is
never going to regain their old jobs. They are going away,
to other places. But the people remain here. What we can do
is to deliberately invest in such public investments as their skills
have provided them, and rebuild our infrastructure. The bridges
and sewers and power grids are here, not in India. We need to
make those jobs available to all those decent human beings,
whom history is edging out, because their unemployment is not
their fault. They want work. They want to pay their mortgages,
and they want to educate their children.
The most difficult part is keeping a clear head about what is
going on. When people are scared and confused, they look for
simple, and almost always wrong answers. Worst, politicians,
whe are no smarter than the rest of us ordinary fence posts,
want to be elected more than they want to think, and they
spew crap, criminal crap, about our situation. God help us!
As agricultural communities die when industrializaton occurs,
industrial communities die when post-industrializaton occurs.
That is what is happening to us. The honest truth is that the
transition is horribly painful, and incredibly promising, and
demanding of thought, sensitivity, and a sense of belonging together.
although it, in all likelihood, will be too late for affect the elections.
The news is that job demand is not where it was before
all hell broke loose two or three years ago, and every since.
The demand for employees is at two levels: the highly skilled
and educated sector, and low-paying service jobs. The people
being left out are the great middle class, the manufacturing jobs.
What that means is that we are living through a structural shift
in our economy, from an industrial, heavy manufacturing base
to a much more technological economy. And that was inevitable.
Heavy manufacturing jobs are where former agricultural people
go for work. That happened first in England, America, and Europe.
As agriculture learned to take advantage of industrial processes,
making large families and swarms of farm workers unnecessary--
a shift from muscle to steam, electrical, and hydrocarbon power,
the surplus farm people moved to the cities and made tractors,
cars, trains, boats, planes, tools, batteries, roads, airports, etc.
Today, that labor force is found by the billions in developing
nations: China, India, Latin America, Korea, and everywhere
where industrialization has not yet come, full force. We cannot
compete with them in terms of cheap labor. It is inevitable.
What has to happen, and what will happen, although slowly,
is that their wages will eventually rise, as ours did, but that
will happen slowly; altogether too slowly for our work force.
We have to do two things. First, we have to recognize clearly
that our long-term future is precisely in the areas that are beginning
to show: high tech, highly educated, sophisticated work that is
built atop the old industrial base, beyond it. We have to invest
in research, top-notch education, development, the new sources of
energy that must replace coal and oil, and not try to recapure
the agriculture-to-heavy industrial sector.
The second thing we have to do is be honest and recognize
that we have a large part of our former work force that is
never going to regain their old jobs. They are going away,
to other places. But the people remain here. What we can do
is to deliberately invest in such public investments as their skills
have provided them, and rebuild our infrastructure. The bridges
and sewers and power grids are here, not in India. We need to
make those jobs available to all those decent human beings,
whom history is edging out, because their unemployment is not
their fault. They want work. They want to pay their mortgages,
and they want to educate their children.
The most difficult part is keeping a clear head about what is
going on. When people are scared and confused, they look for
simple, and almost always wrong answers. Worst, politicians,
whe are no smarter than the rest of us ordinary fence posts,
want to be elected more than they want to think, and they
spew crap, criminal crap, about our situation. God help us!
As agricultural communities die when industrializaton occurs,
industrial communities die when post-industrializaton occurs.
That is what is happening to us. The honest truth is that the
transition is horribly painful, and incredibly promising, and
demanding of thought, sensitivity, and a sense of belonging together.
Comments
Post a Comment