Say Goodbye To Millions Of Jobs As Events Unfold
Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,
Many jobs will not be coming back after the covid-19 crisis ends. We can say goodbye to millions of jobs as events unfold and markets evolve. Millions of small businesses being decimated by Fed policies that favor huge companies coupled with a surge in automation bodes poorly for those looking for work. Over the last three decades, robots have become far more common in factories. In many manufacturing facilities, robots do most of the work. A typical factory may contain hundreds of robots working on fully automated production lines, as it rolls by on a conveyor, a product can be welded, glued, painted, and finally assembled at a sequence of robot stations.
Robots are rapidly replacing humans in performing repetitive and dangerous tasks that people prefer not to do or are unable to do due to size limitations. This includes working in places such as in outer space or at the bottom of the sea where humans cannot survive the extreme environments. Industrial robots are also used extensively for placing products on pallets and packaging of manufactured goods, for example for rapidly taking drink cartons from the end of a conveyor belt and putting them into boxes, or for loading and unloading machines.
The rise in populism and Trump’s trade war has brought front and center how globalization has often put America’s self-interest behind that of corporate profits. In an article written in April of 2013, I claimed that if factories filled with mostly robot workers are the future then we should do all that we can to see that they are located in America. While they would not necessarily be a massive creator of jobs they would at least allow us to have control of our own manufacturing and reduce America’s trade deficit. Fortunately, several events that have taken place since then have fed into an awareness of the vulnerabilities created in supply chains by allowing control of production to flow into foreign hands.
