Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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pioneer98
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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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Not sure where to put this. Maybe it belongs in the politics thread. Will Wilkinson wrote an article for Vox. Wilkinson says "the economy is rigged" but Bernie Sanders is wrong - that the Kochs of the world do not have a big impact on elections and there are left-leaning billionaires like Soros that offset a lot of what they do, so these billionaires aren't as harmful as they might seem. Wilkinson says the "rigged" economy comes more from special interests than billionaires. He never uses the words "special interests" though. He talks a lot about how today 30% of jobs require some kind of license or permit. Only 5% of jobs required a license or permit in 1950. So his argument is that it is these kind of professional interest groups, like dentists and doctors, are limiting competition by forcing laws requiring licenses to do work that could be done by nurses or assistants. Spread this same thing across other sectors and the entire economy and you have a real problem.

I think he has a valid point. I have two problems with his argument though: 1) the Kochs and Soros' of the world wouldn't be spending money if they didn't get some results. Also, I bet we could find MANY areas where the Kochs and Soros' of the world agree on things. And 2) the real issue here is "special interests". Just because Bernie likes to single out the Kochs a lot doesn't mean he's wrong that money in politics is bad in general.

Bernie Sanders is right the economy is rigged. He’s dead wrong about why.

Arthur Dent
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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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While I agree that there are some excessive occupational licensing rules, the framing of this as the true explanation of an unfair and unequal economy is not so compelling.
Last edited by Arthur Dent on July 16 16, 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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pioneer98
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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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Arthur Dent wrote:While I agree that there are some excessive occupational licensing rules, the framing of this as the true explanation of an unfair and unequal economy is not so compelling.
I agree. Seems like the stuff pointed out in this article about Pokémon Go may be more important. The game did not really create hardly many jobs. The few it did were in an already prosperous area. And it's insanely profitable.

http://www.vox.com/2016/7/12/12152728/p ... c-problems

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Schlich
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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

Post by Schlich »

This thread probably counts as a politic topic, right?

AI will eliminate 6 percent of jobs in five years, says report

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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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AI has already cost a lot if bulls their jobs.

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pioneer98
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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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I'll be shocked if we have self-driving trucks within 6 years, but I'm sure they are coming at some point.

I went to an event that had a panel discussion about jobs and technology. One of the people on the panel was the head of our community college, which also does vocational training. He said just in our area that there are 400 job openings for truck drivers. They just can't find people willing to do those jobs. If that is a problem nationwide then somehow we have a giant shortage, and yet we get by without them. I have no doubt the self-driving trucks will displace a lot of workers from pretty good paying jobs. But also it seems like there is some work not getting done right now by anyone that self-driving trucks could be able to get done.

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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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Why don't they look more at rail? I know it would require changes but seems better then driverless trucks.

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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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Diddy wrote:Why don't they look more at rail? I know it would require changes but seems better then driverless trucks.
I think that's probably maxed out and the rest of our infrastructure is based around cars. Rails only go so far. Nobody wants new rail in their area. Same reason we can't get passenger trains and light rail going in most places.

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Re: Rich People, Robots: Are we Effed?

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ghostrunner wrote:
Diddy wrote:Why don't they look more at rail? I know it would require changes but seems better then driverless trucks.
I think that's probably maxed out and the rest of our infrastructure is based around cars. Rails only go so far. Nobody wants new rail in their area. Same reason we can't get passenger trains and light rail going in most places.
I've lived within 1/4 mile of the railroad most of my life. Now that warren buffet owns BNSF it's better ran but still seems under utalizd. I don't think they need more rails just better utilization of what's already there. I'm sure its great for profitability but the current system isn't great for productivity.

In order to use a rail car you have to bid on one, and at least on the grain side it's somewhat silly. My phone is about to die but I'll try to remember to type an example when I get out of the field.

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