Oso planning to go pro
Interesting, but economics isn't science fiction. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. All jobs can be automated, outsourced, or reconfigured.Accountants, actuaries, lawyers, doctors, teachers, architects, reale estate professionals, air trafic controllers, bankers, secretaries/administrative assistants, you name it, everything is subject to downsizing. Why pick on the postal workers? Why pick on the teachers? Oh, unions, politics, got it.My town has 1,644 people and hasc 7 banks??? No jobs, lots of banks, go figure.We have reached end game for the small business, service based economy. Forget pie in the sky dreams, its over. The problem is not a lack of automation, it is millions of unemployed people with no future. Increases in productivity is not the solution. That is old "supply side" vudo economics. We need to revisit old concepts like the multiplier effect, value added tax, tax on wealth not income, inheritance taxation, infrastructure investment, etc.. "Believe me", the post office is the least of our problems.
I'm not picking on the post office, it happens to be the topic of the thread. If you want to start a thread on how actuarials should be automated I'll pop in there and agree with you.Never said the post office was a problem, just that the post office is an example of a repetitive "human in the loop" job that was already going to face pressure to automate which has been accelerated because a previously hidden cost (pandemic) has surfaced which will raise the visible utilization cost driving it higher than the cost to automate.Productivity is not the solution to what, concentration of wealth? We agree, but I also never made the argument that productivity was a solution for the concentration of wealth. And just because you can't see the future for the jobless doesn't mean there isn't one, you just can't see it.And apparently you don't like competition, would you prefer there were 2 banks to 7? Consumer choice drives organizations to lower cost/price, produce new technology, invent new products, etc all of which generate jobs and generate a higher standard of living for all. Poverty now looks way different than poverty 50 years ago. Is poverty good, nope....should we do more, yes.....is productivity a part of the answer, you bet.We are going through an industrial revolution 4.0...we can fight it or we can shape it....I'd prefer to be on the shaping it side.
Totally on board. One ideal I hold is that with the advent of automation, there needs to be some sort of way to keep people around. UBI and a hefty tax on automated systems alongside with reduced work schedules should be something we should all strive for as a society.
Agreed. But you and I aren't going to shape it. Extremely wealthy are going to shape it by how they run their corporations and how they influence the political sphere with their wealth.
Not going to disagree with the general concept, though I wouldn't tax the automation system so to speak. Generally speaking, the automation system generates more than it destroys at a high level. It certainly can have an overall negative impact at the individual level and I think we should strive to minimize that outcome but not as an extract from the automation itself.Personal opinion time, and it's totally decoupled from the automation discussion, you want to solve a lot of problems simultaneously? I would wave a wand and enact the following policies:-Enact a UBI which would effectively include a "stipend" for healthcare (set the UBI to some level that allows for basic living and healthcare expenses)-Eliminate Medicare and Social Security (leave medicaid and other disability programs in place as that is "solving a different problem")-Eliminate all other welfare programs (block grants, food programs, etc)-Make it illegal for employers (both private and public) to directly provide healthcare insurance-Eliminate the restriction on insurance providers competing across state lines-Come up with a federal healthcare program that competes on the healthcare market-Provide a healthcare digital platform for shopping for health insurance-Tax wealth and corporations differently so as to reflect the change in the compensation model.Eliminates several problems:-Healthcare is no longer tied to employment-Introduces healthcare insurance providers into a true competitive market-Creates government efficiency by eliminating all the complexity of the welfare system-Creates a better and more efficient safety net for all individuals -Eliminates the gap in social security-Allows healthcare to find it's true price point (private insurance significantly subsidizes medicare in the current system)-Government isn't controlling healthcare but it can provide a mechanism for those to acquire for those who need itAt the end of the day, I believe this type of system is both more efficient and more effective for society as a whole.
Care to increase and broaden the EITC as well?
Except your tax dollars aren't subsidizing anything, USPS is a self-funding organization. If they did not have to fund pensions 75 years in advance, which no other organization public or private is required to do and costs them $5.5B/year, they would be turning a profit. So really, the business model isn't broken given that they can turn a profit, but has been pointed out, the are a service organization, no a for-profit business, even though they can in fact turn a profit.That isn't to say the USPS shouldn't continue to look for improvements and efficiencies. There have been proposals to allow the post office to provide more services, which would beneficial to underserved rural communities, but business has opposed these ideas.
The "current crisis" is a made up issue. It changes the subject from drugs, police brutality, civil rights, income inequality, loss of the industrial base, the gig economy, corporate welfare, gun violence, health care/insurance, and serious economic issues like the World Bank, and the IMF.The emporer has no clothes folks. So lets talk about the post office and teachers pensions. Sometimes I regret ever going to Marquette. Sen. Joseph McCarthy still lives in the heart and soul of Wisconsin and many Marquette alumni. Sad to say that in my day Wisconsin even went for Gov. Wallace. The so-called business models are all out the window. Travel and entertainment, sports, for profit hospitals, leveraged living, credit scores, disposable income, are gone, gone, gone.Now back to the "debate" about the post office. Ha, meaningless, irrevelant, a side show at best.
WI went for Wallace?
34% of WI dems voted for Wallace in 1964.https://shepherdexpress.com/news/milwaukee-history/dixie-north-george-wallace-1964-wisconsin-presidential-primary/#/questions
Thanks, Goldwater and Wallace were very popular. That set the groundwork for Regan, the Bushies and now Trump. The McCarthy, Wallace, Goldwater crowd are relentless, hey are Svengalies. Sad to say, Wisconsin is not normal.
You realize that McCarthy has been dead since 1957. I dont think there is any "McCarthy crowd" left.
You realize that FDR has been dead since 1945 and there are still people around with FDR loyalties?
No one under the age of 85.
People have predicted the permanent loss of jobs from technology since the invention of the wheel. Somehow, the world always manages to produce new ones.How many people have jobs now that didn't even exist a generation ago? How many social media directors were there in 1985? How many web designers? How many network administrators? How many electric car battery technicians? How many solar panel installers? How many "smart home" consultants?
It's going to happen with the Postal Service as well. People already have figured out how to get a message to another person quicker, cheaper and better than paper, a stamp and lots of human handling. Reform or die and in the process, the challenge will be what to do with the letter carriers.