General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The jobs are going whether we sign agreements or not. [View all]joshcryer
(62,269 posts)With automation we are no longer going to have large manufacturing labor pools.
Something I have realized though is that while manufacturing is lower as part of GDP it is still on the rise, again, I argue, due to automation and more efficient industrialization. We simply make more stuff with less people.
What happens when some venture capitalist from silicon valley makes a robot that can make very good clothing in a sewing machine? All those Mexican or Indian clothing maker jobs will be in deep trouble. But there won't necessarily be a huge rise in American clothing manufacturing jobs. Even the ones that are still around such as American Apparel would see a decline in the labor force for those goods.
I don't know why, but every time I see a TPP discussion or a trade discussion, I keep falling back to a basic income, because for me globalization is near an end, as far as I can see it for the United States, and we need a way to solve this problem.