The Lonely Women of the Rustbelt

[JHan]

We have the worst administration in office to deal with the problems described in this article. Steve Mnuchin said earlier this year that the impact of AI and automation will only be felt in 50-100 years time and it's not even on his radar.

This would be funny if he wasn't Treasury Secretary.

As the robotic revolution continues apace, a dystopian future of chronic unemployment, drug addiction, and dissipation will be inevitable - - - unless we admit to the problem now, take control and prepare ourselves for a future that just might be better than anything we've ever known.

"His research suggests that men aged 21 to 30 without a college degree worked 12 percent less in 2015 than they did in 2000, and men aged 31 to 55 worked 8 percent less. Women’s shares were lower: younger women worked 7 percent less, while older women worked four percent less. Much of this decline is not just that all men worked fewer hours, but that a large number of men just stopped working, Hurst said, a trend that he attributed to automation and the disappearance of good jobs. The fraction of men who say they had worked zero hours over the past year has skyrocketed since 2000, he found. As they drop out of the labor force, men depend on family members and partners more, in some cases quite a lot. About 70 percent of non-working men ages 21 to 30 live with a parent or close relative other than a spouse, according to the Hurst data; 20 percent live with a spouse or with friends."

https://www.citylab.com/politics/2017/05/the-lonely-women-of-the-rust-belt/525960/?utm_content=buffer6d37c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Dem2]

1. Honestly, the elimination of money and all the heartache it brings

Is going to have to be considered at some point in the future.

[JHan]

2. Message deleted by DU the Administrators

[brer cat]

3. It is going to take a radical change,

and I don't know how many people are going to support that...until it literally hits hard at home. It is sad, but true, that every thing in the article has been reality for a long time but no one was focusing on it because it was predominately people of color. Now that the white middle class is failing, it is suddenly cause for great concern. I think the biggest hurdle to overcome will be getting people away from a me, me, me attitude into a recognition that we are all going to sink or swim together.

Two illustrations: We all talk about how so many ignorant people vote against their own interests. I certainly know people who do so, and will continue to do so if it means that the black guy down the street or the immigrant landscaper doesn't get anything "free". They will forego the benefit for themselves before they will support it for everyone.

I was in a drug store and two clerks were talking about the fact that their company had instituted higher starting salaries. One of them was whining and whining about how "unfair" it was because she had to work years at the lower rate, and now the new hires would start out at a level it took her years to achieve. She paid no attention to the other woman telling her that ALL wages would increase and also trying to explain cost of living increases. Nope, it was just "unfair" that everyone didn't have to start on the exact same bottom rung.

These people will be hard to convince to support UBI for everyone.

[JHan]

4. Yup. When job loss occured in communities in color we were told to adapt or die.

It's common for us to focus on getting certs, degrees because no one is going to hand things to us out here or prioritize our concerns.

And the resentments the lady you describe expressed is exactly what we're up against. The only way she may change her mind if she loses her job and becomes pauperized. She hasn't made the connection between causes and outcomes, because if she did she'd realize that she could easily end up in a much worse situation and would be grateful for a cushion to soften the fall when there are radical shifts in the economy.