Where do we work next?

Chinese Manufacturers Looking to Replace Workers with Machines

We've all witnessed the mass shift of manufacturing and service industries to countries where wage levels and obligations to the workforce are neglible.
Both America and the UK have suffered badly under this masterplan designed to maximise profits and to be honest, from the view of the commercial beast, it makes perfect sense, youre not going to buy gas or clothes at the most expensive outlets if another vendor offers massive price cuts and will deliver at no cost to you are you?

So when this particular headline showed up on Cryptogon it got me wondering, if they are slowly turning to cutting manpower levels in China and shifting to using robotic systems, the rest of the 'rationalisation process wont be far behind.

At home in Britain and in the USA when they mechanised almost every single task that they could, the idea rapidly spread and workers were rapidly removed from the loop and unemployment climbed.

Now we have massive unemployment leading to low income leading to even more unemployment, so what happens when commercial megalomaniacs start cutting back over there next?

Who buys the product?

Where do we get the money to buy the product?

Now I have major problems with math, but even I can see that this cant ever lead to a good outcome for the majority of us, anyone more informed see something Im Missing?

[edit on 25-6-2010 by Tie No Bows!]

i think, you miss out on something.
who builds the machines ?
who does the maintain ?
who is designing and developing new and better machines ?

the working enviroment is always changing. new products are developed, new consumer needs emerge and want to be pleased.
true, machines take away work, but human creativity produces more jobs.
and, not to forget, we face a time where new problems and challenges pop up every day, so enough "to do".

China has been notorious for relying upon human labor and not mechanizing their production the way the rest of the world has. I remember talking to a United States government official on the matter, he said that he was over in China watching the demolition of a building being done by hand, with sledgehammers and picks by an army of laborers. He asked why they simply did not use a wrecking ball and the foreman of the team said something along the lines of "if we did that, where would people work?"

My question regarding this change for China regards their reason for mechanization: Are they doing this to replace workers, or to improve their output? If China continues to push for universal employment and adds mechanization to that, they could become an even more incredible manufacturing powerhouse, the kind this planet has never seen before.

reply to post by icepack


Sorry Icepack but kinda ranks along with "I was only obeying orders" in my view. Overmechanisation leaving millions on the scrapheap, while less and less are required to keep things ticking over, hardly seems like the best deal for humanity and certainly not for western society.

I think thats why we have so many overly aggressive police officers and state officials, who are supposedly there for the good of the community as a whole. Certainly not only for those fortunate enough to be able to keep there heads above water.

The problem being that eventually even those under the impression that they are set for life, may well find themselves checking out the price of tents sooner than they think.

At the moment the US is in the position where its own population is being evicted from there homes for debt default, they then find that even as US citizens they have even less rights that illegal immigrants. Your told that any solution would be 'too expensive' to implement, while at the same time paying billions of dollars in 'aid' to one of the smallest, richest most aggresive countries on the planet?

Socialism seems to be the new communism these days, I disagree, but abuse of welfare must be stamped out...no question. On these same forums the old my party vs your party goes on and on, with both having done exactly the same job for the american public as the other...very little.

But as long as people are happy to go along the line you suggest, that this is the way it is and we'll all be fine is so short sighted even naive and I dont think for one minute your either, so how you arrive at that opionion I dont know.

I wouldnt think it unreasonable to expect that my people were fed to a basic level...no fois gras, just a decent level of nourishment. Would it be so outrageous to suggest that the population had basic health and dental care?
Proper education would go some way to showing people a way forward, both as a person and as a country.

Whos gonna pay for that? Was the cry, probably from some of those currently residing in tents in California now. Yes it would come from your pocket, but then you know would be covered should things get bad.
They could have been paid for had corporate america not elected itself supercop and gotten involved in just about every #ty situation since WWII. Paying billions over the years to israel while letting things go to pot at home doesnt seem like a great idea either, but the tab isnt picked up by those who start these things anyway.

How many thousands of americans have been sacrificed over the years at the feet of corporate and political greed you think? Im struggling to think of a real tangible enemy, other than those that foreign policy has created, you had none....that was back when everyone loved the USA.

Most of the tent people were Joe Citizen till the SHTF and now theyve crossed that divide and are part of the unclean, the problem is that line is capable of shifting at any time and does so regularly.

So your service staff are just as suject to the risk of poverty as the next guy, white collar work is the classic case with jobs moved to India in the thousands, the all thought that the Superbowl lifestyle would never end, right up till they bought the tent!

I loved America that I thought I knew, as I educated myself the picture has become less clear, until the real americans come back and clean house, I think things can only get worse for you. Dont get the impression that I think the UK is peachy, most of your screwups have been done here too at some time in the past or present...we're just as bad!

I apologise if this comes across as a rant, its not. Its a view on a view, nothing more, its just my grammar etc can get bit nuts thanks to my medication.