The headline reads: “The robots are coming. Can job retraining and internet access help people stay employed?”
“The robots are coming. Can job retraining and internet access help people stay employed?”I was happy to read in the News Tribune last week that the Washington Legislature is studying the coming loss of jobs:
The jobs of tomorrow? You have to be kidding me. The new virtual reality is virtually no jobs.” . . . some Washington lawmakers have come up with a strategy that they believe will protect workers in the economy of the future. That idea is the Future of Work Task Force, a proposal in the Legislature that would research ways to prepare workers for the robot-dominated job landscape of the future. The bill follows estimates from one MIT study that roughly a third of U.S. workers may be replaced by robots by the year 2030. Several worker training programs exist in Washington, although none specifically prepare employees for an automated workplace. The task force, which would cost $350,000, aims to supply the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board with strategies to prepare current and future generations for the jobs of tomorrow.” – http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article198140069.html
The jobs of tomorrow? You have to be kidding me. This is going to be much more serious than retraining. The new virtual reality is virtually no jobs. I think that in the future people will simply have no jobs. Service jobs will prevail for a while, but then they will also fall by the wayside. I believe our leaders should be putting two programs in place: free health care, and guaranteed income.
Robots can’t lead, they will simply create more robots.Currently, the United States is just about the only major country without free healthcare. We’re in great company: Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Pakistan, and some other poor nations. Almost all modern countries do have free healthcare. Even Ethiopia has free health care. ETHIOPIA! And here we sit with many leaders trying to do away what health care we have.
For those countries that do have health care “Most implement universal health care through legislation, regulation and taxation.” The upcoming problem is going to be taxation, because there will be no jobs, which means no income to be taxed. Beyond a loss of taxes, no money means there would be no sales and no money going into corporations. A guaranteed income could eliminate social security and many other government programs currently used to help the poor and homeless. We are already seeing volatility in the stock market. just imagine what could happen when there are no jobs and no consumers? Something will have to be done and preparations must be made . . . that is what legislatures should be studying. It’s going to be a different world. Shouldn’t we lead the world into the future? We can’t just leave it to the robots. Robots don’t create jobs, they create more robots.
