I remember in Trump’s first term the promise to the coal miners. As he was promising them jobs, my Facebook pages were showing automated machines, that went in to the mines, excavated, came back out— one person ran the entire show!
Amazon laid off employees, replaced them with robots, looking to replace more people in the coming year.
The robot creators and the business owners are making money.
Everyone else is trying to survive.
Big business, billionaires got Trump elected. But Trump is keeping them under his thumb— pay for ballroom, pay per plate dinners, buy crypto, bitcoin, pay for my whims… he will keep asking for money, and they will feed his greed — bribery by bully at the highest level.. government favors for sale.
Huge fan of yours, John! Love that you’re on Substack. I’m not sure I could name another in media with your level of smarts and integrity. Keep on keeping on!
All of the above was self-fulfilling prophecy anyone with a grade-school education (a dunce like me, even!) knew from the outset. It still beggars belief this is the road down which he’s taken your country (I’m Canadian) and the world. Just economic idiocy on par with every other idiotic thing he does.
I hate that his divisiveness has driven a wedge between our two countries, and I’m often derided when I use folks like you to defend the American people as not, in the main, just apolitical reflections of their buffoon in chief. It’s a tough case to make some days, but I refuse to invoke “rupture” because of what I hope will just be a bad dream from which we’ll wake up anew… at some point in the future. 🤞
Fan of yours so wanted to support your new independence; mistakenly subscribed to Navel Gazing thinking that was your only Substack. Now, disappointed to discover I’m not able to see paid content for John Dickerson Substack. Hate to involve you in admin stuff but is there anyway to correct my mistake?
Felon 47 uses tariffs as mob shakedown. Trading partners and mfrs. ‘fly the bird’ and the coop - decades of interconnected trade that benefits all. America pays.
Is this lack of new jobs apparent to the voters in the Rust Belt who were anticipating growth in manufacturing jobs? How do we get the message to them that it is Trump’s policies that have made things worse, not better?
Carefully crafted tariffs might have helped instead you got a shotgun approach that increased the cost of inputs and made doing business impossible for many. You also terrorized large numbers of lower skilled workers making it harder to hire. So whoever’s left looks to automation as a way to survive the uncertainty.
The numbers are impressive. We can argue philosophy all day long, but when we see the numbers, the truth becomes plain. Donald Trump‘s ultimate goal is always to enrich himself and those who can support his illusion of greatness. He talks about friends, but he does not have friends.
We have lost more blue collar work to automation than outsourcing to 3rd countries( though that has contributed). Both parties have done little to protect our workers or prepare them for the future.
Remember when Obama tried to talk to WV coal miners about retraining, preparing them for the next generation? Or was that Hillary? Or both? We see what that got them. When I grew up in WV it was 85% blue always. The GOP convinced them we just wanted to steal their jobs even though coal mining is killing most of them.
So I agree with you to a point but Dems have made efforts that the GOP has used against them as weapons as absurd as that is.
Anyone with an ounce of critical thinking, and maybe a little bit of knowledge about processes and automation, could have told you what was going to happen. Variability is an anathema to manufacturing, especially at scale. Automation reduces variability by orders of magnitude. Further, economies of scale argue for increased automation to trade high variable costs for much lower fixed costs (when spread over the output). There is no good way to counter either of these incentives, much less both of them. Forty years ago, we were talking about electronic factories that had two employees, a guard and a dog. The guard’s job was to feed the dog; the dog’s job was to make sure the guard didn’t touch any of the machines. We were only partially joking.
For decades now, US manufacturing output has gone up while manufacturing employment has gone down. That’s exactly what happened in agriculture a century before. The only real unanswered questions are: which sector is next? Followed by: what do we do about it?
And in addition to this, there are all the non-mfg jobs that he's done away with in the government. There's also the impact on the hospitality and retail industry from the drop in tourism.
Excellent reporting - it’s astonishing anyone believes a word that comes out of Trump’s mouth anymore. His promises always fizzle this way. He’s a conman!!!
My doctor informed me this week that she now uses chatgpt for all her visits. Turns it on as soon as she walks in and captures entire conversation. “Saves me a ton of time on notes”.
Did not tell me this until i was leaving.
I guarantee you our next visit will be very different …less open.
I do not like this one bit especially not being told up front that private health information is being recorded on AI software.
I should add, as clarification, that I worked in user support, for 13 years (in other areas of tech industry for 12 years prior), during the advent of EMR/EHR (electronic medical record) technology so I’m not anti-software and well recognize how overworked our physicians are. Thing is, even if the software seems safely ensconced on your server, any tech person will tell you that every ‘new’ piece of software you download is another portal, another door, another vulnerability that the bad guys can try to exploit. And there is little doubt that programs like chatgpt are at the top of their ‘to do’ lists right now.
During Mr. Trump's first administration, tariffs had a negative impact on the agriculture economy. Now, in Mr Trump's second administration, the tariffs are having a negative impact on the farmers again. Many of these same people voted for Trump all three election cycles. I have no sympathy for these individuals. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Just the rambling thoughts of an old hermit. (Hope I haven't upset anyone. )
I don’t have sympathy for them in some respects. However, on a macro level, I hate to see our farmers/food sources going bankrupt; rather being bought out for pennies on the dollar by Big Ag (which is the GOP’s goal really). Big Ag doesn’t give a damn about our health, only what they can degrade, cheapen in terms of quality to increase their profits. Control the food source control the people, just like with fresh water sources. The long term implications of losing any independence in our food chain is horrifying.
I was laughing at the beginning, not so much by footnote #3. What happens when Trump’s non-billionaire political base start pushing back on the negative impacts of his economic policies? In this context the FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections office (featuring Tulsi Gabbard!) and recent Whitehouse comments about “nationalizing” elections seem even more worrying.
We don't have the skilled craftspeople to do manufacturing in the US any more. We don't have the plants, the infrastructure, the education, personnel, or desire. No one wants to do that kind of work anymore.
Bringing production back to the USA is positive in many ways. Automation keeps it from being expensive for the consumer. Am hoping it all shakes out for the greatest good for all.
I would love for you to be right. I certainly worry about our dependence on other countries, mostly China, for critical drug ingredients and military parts. I fear you are a bit naive. American corporations are so driven by greed and not at all by the long term good. And most relocated manufacturing is still owned by foreign companies so most of the profit goes back to home countries.
A couple stories:
I was happy to see the laundry sheets I had started using, in attempts to eliminate plastic waste, move their factory to the US from China. They are not cheap and yet this new US option was a bit less. Yay! Right. They changed the engineering design and it is less user friendly now while still being ridiculously overpriced compared to brands in plastic jugs. I’m on a fixed income. I won’t play this game at the prices they charge but I also care about our environment. I won’t buy this brand again because I won’t pay companies to abuse us for more profits, USA-based or not.
Decades ago, Ikea built a factory in S VA where I lived. Old textile manufacturing area so unemployment was very high. Ikea! We all know how much better employees are treated in these European countries. Right. Degreed engineers were being paid $10/hr and salaried (so no OT) because they could get away with it. Because people were desperate for jobs. Starting salary in Sweden at the time was about $23/hr w/benefits. Workers ended up going on strike to fight back.
It seems like the ability to abuse US workers is built into relocation strategies as a benefit.
I remember in Trump’s first term the promise to the coal miners. As he was promising them jobs, my Facebook pages were showing automated machines, that went in to the mines, excavated, came back out— one person ran the entire show!
Amazon laid off employees, replaced them with robots, looking to replace more people in the coming year.
The robot creators and the business owners are making money.
Everyone else is trying to survive.
Big business, billionaires got Trump elected. But Trump is keeping them under his thumb— pay for ballroom, pay per plate dinners, buy crypto, bitcoin, pay for my whims… he will keep asking for money, and they will feed his greed — bribery by bully at the highest level.. government favors for sale.
Huge fan of yours, John! Love that you’re on Substack. I’m not sure I could name another in media with your level of smarts and integrity. Keep on keeping on!
All of the above was self-fulfilling prophecy anyone with a grade-school education (a dunce like me, even!) knew from the outset. It still beggars belief this is the road down which he’s taken your country (I’m Canadian) and the world. Just economic idiocy on par with every other idiotic thing he does.
I hate that his divisiveness has driven a wedge between our two countries, and I’m often derided when I use folks like you to defend the American people as not, in the main, just apolitical reflections of their buffoon in chief. It’s a tough case to make some days, but I refuse to invoke “rupture” because of what I hope will just be a bad dream from which we’ll wake up anew… at some point in the future. 🤞
Fan of yours so wanted to support your new independence; mistakenly subscribed to Navel Gazing thinking that was your only Substack. Now, disappointed to discover I’m not able to see paid content for John Dickerson Substack. Hate to involve you in admin stuff but is there anyway to correct my mistake?
Birdbrain economic and trade policy.
Felon 47 uses tariffs as mob shakedown. Trading partners and mfrs. ‘fly the bird’ and the coop - decades of interconnected trade that benefits all. America pays.
Thanks for your clear voice.
Is this lack of new jobs apparent to the voters in the Rust Belt who were anticipating growth in manufacturing jobs? How do we get the message to them that it is Trump’s policies that have made things worse, not better?
Carefully crafted tariffs might have helped instead you got a shotgun approach that increased the cost of inputs and made doing business impossible for many. You also terrorized large numbers of lower skilled workers making it harder to hire. So whoever’s left looks to automation as a way to survive the uncertainty.
The numbers are impressive. We can argue philosophy all day long, but when we see the numbers, the truth becomes plain. Donald Trump‘s ultimate goal is always to enrich himself and those who can support his illusion of greatness. He talks about friends, but he does not have friends.
We have lost more blue collar work to automation than outsourcing to 3rd countries( though that has contributed). Both parties have done little to protect our workers or prepare them for the future.
Remember when Obama tried to talk to WV coal miners about retraining, preparing them for the next generation? Or was that Hillary? Or both? We see what that got them. When I grew up in WV it was 85% blue always. The GOP convinced them we just wanted to steal their jobs even though coal mining is killing most of them.
So I agree with you to a point but Dems have made efforts that the GOP has used against them as weapons as absurd as that is.
Anyone with an ounce of critical thinking, and maybe a little bit of knowledge about processes and automation, could have told you what was going to happen. Variability is an anathema to manufacturing, especially at scale. Automation reduces variability by orders of magnitude. Further, economies of scale argue for increased automation to trade high variable costs for much lower fixed costs (when spread over the output). There is no good way to counter either of these incentives, much less both of them. Forty years ago, we were talking about electronic factories that had two employees, a guard and a dog. The guard’s job was to feed the dog; the dog’s job was to make sure the guard didn’t touch any of the machines. We were only partially joking.
For decades now, US manufacturing output has gone up while manufacturing employment has gone down. That’s exactly what happened in agriculture a century before. The only real unanswered questions are: which sector is next? Followed by: what do we do about it?
And in addition to this, there are all the non-mfg jobs that he's done away with in the government. There's also the impact on the hospitality and retail industry from the drop in tourism.
Excellent reporting - it’s astonishing anyone believes a word that comes out of Trump’s mouth anymore. His promises always fizzle this way. He’s a conman!!!
My doctor informed me this week that she now uses chatgpt for all her visits. Turns it on as soon as she walks in and captures entire conversation. “Saves me a ton of time on notes”.
Did not tell me this until i was leaving.
I guarantee you our next visit will be very different …less open.
I do not like this one bit especially not being told up front that private health information is being recorded on AI software.
I should add, as clarification, that I worked in user support, for 13 years (in other areas of tech industry for 12 years prior), during the advent of EMR/EHR (electronic medical record) technology so I’m not anti-software and well recognize how overworked our physicians are. Thing is, even if the software seems safely ensconced on your server, any tech person will tell you that every ‘new’ piece of software you download is another portal, another door, another vulnerability that the bad guys can try to exploit. And there is little doubt that programs like chatgpt are at the top of their ‘to do’ lists right now.
During Mr. Trump's first administration, tariffs had a negative impact on the agriculture economy. Now, in Mr Trump's second administration, the tariffs are having a negative impact on the farmers again. Many of these same people voted for Trump all three election cycles. I have no sympathy for these individuals. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Just the rambling thoughts of an old hermit. (Hope I haven't upset anyone. )
I don’t have sympathy for them in some respects. However, on a macro level, I hate to see our farmers/food sources going bankrupt; rather being bought out for pennies on the dollar by Big Ag (which is the GOP’s goal really). Big Ag doesn’t give a damn about our health, only what they can degrade, cheapen in terms of quality to increase their profits. Control the food source control the people, just like with fresh water sources. The long term implications of losing any independence in our food chain is horrifying.
I was laughing at the beginning, not so much by footnote #3. What happens when Trump’s non-billionaire political base start pushing back on the negative impacts of his economic policies? In this context the FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections office (featuring Tulsi Gabbard!) and recent Whitehouse comments about “nationalizing” elections seem even more worrying.
We don't have the skilled craftspeople to do manufacturing in the US any more. We don't have the plants, the infrastructure, the education, personnel, or desire. No one wants to do that kind of work anymore.
Bringing production back to the USA is positive in many ways. Automation keeps it from being expensive for the consumer. Am hoping it all shakes out for the greatest good for all.
I would love for you to be right. I certainly worry about our dependence on other countries, mostly China, for critical drug ingredients and military parts. I fear you are a bit naive. American corporations are so driven by greed and not at all by the long term good. And most relocated manufacturing is still owned by foreign companies so most of the profit goes back to home countries.
A couple stories:
I was happy to see the laundry sheets I had started using, in attempts to eliminate plastic waste, move their factory to the US from China. They are not cheap and yet this new US option was a bit less. Yay! Right. They changed the engineering design and it is less user friendly now while still being ridiculously overpriced compared to brands in plastic jugs. I’m on a fixed income. I won’t play this game at the prices they charge but I also care about our environment. I won’t buy this brand again because I won’t pay companies to abuse us for more profits, USA-based or not.
Decades ago, Ikea built a factory in S VA where I lived. Old textile manufacturing area so unemployment was very high. Ikea! We all know how much better employees are treated in these European countries. Right. Degreed engineers were being paid $10/hr and salaried (so no OT) because they could get away with it. Because people were desperate for jobs. Starting salary in Sweden at the time was about $23/hr w/benefits. Workers ended up going on strike to fight back.
It seems like the ability to abuse US workers is built into relocation strategies as a benefit.