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There will be trouble ahead


G+_George Kozi
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There will be trouble ahead.

 

This floated down my stream. I don't know if this is true, but It feels important. This plays on people's fears, but it also has a grain of truth to it. In this app driven universe, the human being may very well end up as a casualty of progress.

 

This isn't new, of course. But society needs time to adapt to this new world, and social programs are needed to reshape culture and society. In this same brave new world, those social programs seem to be lacking.

 

A whole mass of disenfranchised people are being rapidly created. That spells trouble.  The tech progresses by the month, and society changes by generation. Nobody seems to at least be trying to address that.

 

Originally shared by scuderia ferrari

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/07/billionaires-tell-workers-no-minimum-wage?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

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We are fast approaching a world where we do not have a need for everyone to work 40 hours a week. Technology is taking care of much of the less intellectual jobs. Our economy is still setup as if we need everyone to have a job, but we do not. Anti-technology folks are in some way right to be afraid of tech taking jobs away, but it seems to me that is the wrong approach. We shouldn't dismiss technology because it can do our jobs. We should change our economic structure to accommodate. Maybe this means considering 20 hours full-time. I doubt it is that simple though. Shaming technology is helping nothing though. Technology is here. Technology will continue to progress, and wishing it away is absurd. I think one place to start is to stop correlating employment rate with economic prosperity as it does not really account for these new issues.

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not only is technology increasingly replacing low skill jobs, automation is increasingly replacing knowledge worker jobs. I predict 80 percent reduction in system administrator jobs in the next 15 years as cloud and automation replace them. Also consider big data replacing the large percentage of data analyst jobs.

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I am not surprised by this one little bit.

 

Government meddling to solve a real world problem works …. seldom to never. The problem needs to be solved by the consumer, not by legislation. If you believe a restaurant does not pay a fair, living wage to it's employees, don't eat there. Convince everyone you know not to eat there (if you can). That's the way change should be brought about. Make it detrimental to their business not to change. 

 

Unfortunately the same people who are crying for the government to step in and take action are the same people who are enjoying the low cost meals that will no longer be possible after the minimum wage is increased, once again causing these same people to cry out for even more legislation. Legislation is a destructive, vicious cycle.

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If you are opposed to Pads replacing people, speak with action and words. Get up and walk out of such restaurants and then use social media to let the management know that you will no longer be one of their customers.

 

Believe it or not they actually do read what people are posting. My wife has proven this to me. She gets comped free meals regularly after posting to a restaurant's FB page.

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I keep several spare teenagers in my closet for the same purpose Christopher Bell ;-)

 

 

 

But seriously, I'm not opposed to using tech in this way. I do it myself all the time. One example is I like to go to 5 Guys Burgers. I have their app on my phone so I usually place my order on my way there. That way it's nearly ready by the time I get there.

 

But if it bothered me thinking that someone might be losing their job because I choose to order w/o using a real live person, then I wouldn't do it. In my personal case, I'd rather not have to interact with their staff all all if I could help it.?

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Christopher Bell Yep. POS systems are getting easier and easier to use. All a company needs to do is find an easy and reliable way to process the customer's cash, and then they can just turn the POS touchscreens around and let the customer press the "cheeseburger" button instead of paying someone minimum wage to push that button for the customer.

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I agree Randy Hudson that tablets their own problems and issues also. But if a tablet works for a week it has paid for itself and instead of having to find a replacement worker you just need a spare tablet and the problem is fixed in two minutes. I agree with your earlier post in this thread. People are going to price themselves out of a job by having the govt enforce higher wages instead of speaking with their feet and dollars.

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Because of the speed of change, a lot of fundamentals will have to be reassessed in the near future. Things like:

 

Is common good more important than profit?

 

Is rapid growth more important than

stability?

 

Are we a society, or everyone is on its own?

 

Is the market always right? Should all things economic be lead by it?

 

Should a company make its shareholders happy, or to make its workers and customers happy?

 

Should society provide a minimum standard of goods and services to all its citizens? Even those out of a job... After all, we won't be able to have everyone employed, because there won't be a need for it.

 

Should one work for a living, or work for a passion? etc.

 

In all this, wise government is indispensable. It is the only organisation that represents the common interest (if it does its job properly). And let's not forget, we are the ones that puts the government in power. It's not some abstract thing out there. "The Government" is ultimately us.

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In the UK many supermarket and local shops have self service checkouts, there is also a minimum wage. I have to say that I felt a bit sad when I realised I had spent an entire day in London, quite a lazy day admittedly, without speaking to anyone. Yet I had been to several shops and travelled on different types of public transport.

 

That said, machinery and chemicals moved about 80% of people off the land but people still work. Factories and driving will be next perhaps. It become ever more interesting as to where worth is generated. We must become ever more efficient as there are ever more mouths to feed but where will the jobs be to pay for the food? Servicing mainly, in a cascade from the super rich down?

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I offer this response to George Kozi's last comment, question by question:

 

No.

 

No.

 

Society is over-rated. Make your own way.

 

No. Yes.

 

Not all companies have shareholders. That would indicate a corporation. The purpose of corporations is to make money for their shareholders unless said corporation also happens to be a not for profit. The happiness of it's customers and/or employees only matters in that such happiness will likely lead to increased profits. Don't try to get all moral and philosophical on the matter, that's completely irrelevant.

 

Society again? Seriously? Am I my brothers keeper?

 

Both, if possible.

 

There is not such thing as wise government. No one is a clueless as all of us.

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