Jobs numbers

Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. Thousands of jobs are being terminated on a monthly basis. The jobs numbers for the past 2 years are casting a shadow of uncertainty over the nation.

We were warned about this. Last year, before the election, the leader of the Teamsters (even a broken clock may be correct twice a day) said there are millions of open jobs that no one will take. He then explained that he predicted in the next few years, millions of jobs will be terminated and that we need to retrain people to transition before they are laid off. Mike Rowe addressed this problem in a series earlier this year. A multitude of employers are trying to entice people to make a career change and join up, but no one responds. As predicted, the open position number has hovered around 7.5M for over a year now and shows no signs of changing. Looks like the new jobs are staying while the old jobs are going.

When Trump was elected and folks were busy celebrating, I was busy trying to get folks to develop reasonable skills for the future. I knew MAGA had to step up to fill the void if we were to make America successful during this Presidency. Few have answered the call. We are supposed to be conservatives: We are supposed to represent individual freedom, merit, and responsibility. Instead, there is a lot of othering and collectivist blaming. If you are going to go down that road, you might as well identify yourself as a Leftist.

People are stuck in their ways and refuse to make changes when it is good for them. As conservatives, we need to stand on individual responsibility and get the work done - irrespective of the past. Changing is hard. But as the saying goes: "life is change and death it's alternative." Adapt or die.

Workforce AI

There were some leaked messages out of Amazon discussing how to replace around 600,000 jobs with robotics and AI. Some say blue collar work is looked down on these days. Others say otherwise. Some people got all up in a tizzy about this due to a lack of knowledge.

I believe the current iteration of workforce robotics is a direct result of the attack on masculinity. Men don't want to just pick what they are going to do, do it without need for thanks and admiration, and leave everyone the hell alone. Everyone wants a ticker tape parade for being part of society. I do not believe the jobs are looked down on, but they are not sought after by our young men either. This is made evident by the fact that there are a multitude of unemployed men and a multitude of job openings - they ain't up and at ‘em. Young men are all trying to do fancy jobs that let you collect a paycheck while sitting on your ass skinny af, rather than doing hard labor that requires strength and grit.

I think it is more of a forced shift toward automation than a total removal of blue collar jobs - at least in the near term. What's happening currently is a push to lessen the burden for hiring not a push to eliminate what presently works. In other words: Amazon plans to not hire 600k workers rather than planning to layoff 600k workers. Also Amazon corporate denies the claim; they say one team is gaming this out to see if it works and no decision has yet been made.

We know the AI workers are not as good as humans. We are working hard to make AI better, but we know it is not a reasonable near-term target. Today's major issue is the availability of workers. People are not willing to do warehouse labor anymore. The USPS, Amazon, FexEx and other fulfillment companies feel the burden the hardest. There has been a shortage of warehouse workers and truckers in this nation for 3 decades. If people won't step up to the plate, we have to put a machine in there.

No company wants to buy a $10million worth of robotics (plus a support contract with an engineering firm) to do a blue collar job - it isn't cost effective. Even a unionized workforce is cheaper than an AI workforce. They want to buy AI if it is their ONLY option. Further, if they buy the machine, they are locked in - there is no going back. The sunk cost into robotics would be a strong driver toward the future use of robotics.

I used to do warehouse work. Real warehouse work for a real don't-give-a-fk-about-your-safety company. It's not surprising that people don't want to do that, but we all want to buy the products that result from that work. If we keep buying, who is going to produce if we don't step up and do it?