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I'm surrounded by young people trying to get the jobs they trained for. Or trying to get any job at all. And not just the very young: I have folks around me who are closer to forty than thirty, well-educated, well-trained, successfully employed in the past, who can't get work in their field or any other. Even the terrible jobs are ridiculously hard to get. And they are getting more terrible, as well. Wages are falling, conditions get ever more grueling, workers' rights are lost in the courts.
Is it any wonder I have taken my creaky old self out of the job market?
So what happened? I've seen automation take the blame. But it's just not true for the jobs my young friends are looking for. In many cases they are looking for jobs that will not be automatable until we have human-replacing artificial intelligence. Robots can do a lot of things, but they can't do these things.
What's happening is two things: work that needs to be done is not being done, and work that is being done is being done by people who are working too hard. People who work eighty hours a week (and like as not get paid for thirty), people who have to attend to too many tasks at once.
Roads are going unmended, schools are being allowed to deteriorate, hospitals are understaffed, inspections are not being done. How come? Because these are all public functions, publicly funded for the public good, and all the funds are being diverted to private hoards. While West Virginia's water supply went unprotected (and may be permanently damaged), the money was being shoveled into Scrooge McDuck's swimming pool.
Is it any wonder I have taken my creaky old self out of the job market?
So what happened? I've seen automation take the blame. But it's just not true for the jobs my young friends are looking for. In many cases they are looking for jobs that will not be automatable until we have human-replacing artificial intelligence. Robots can do a lot of things, but they can't do these things.
What's happening is two things: work that needs to be done is not being done, and work that is being done is being done by people who are working too hard. People who work eighty hours a week (and like as not get paid for thirty), people who have to attend to too many tasks at once.
Roads are going unmended, schools are being allowed to deteriorate, hospitals are understaffed, inspections are not being done. How come? Because these are all public functions, publicly funded for the public good, and all the funds are being diverted to private hoards. While West Virginia's water supply went unprotected (and may be permanently damaged), the money was being shoveled into Scrooge McDuck's swimming pool.
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It's sad to see so many things taking place which don't follow any logic and what people get left behind with is unearned blame of "it's your fault, you're not trying hard enough!".
All round the globe same things take place; especially in those countries which follow the Western, America-driven model of economy and life.
Sometimes one might speculate how long this is going to last since the substance it's held up with is getting thin.
...If there only was not the fear of what might follow it is after.
It can get worse any time.