
02 Jun American Luddite
Posted at 01:33h
in Education, General, International Relations, Politics, Society
by William Natbony
1 Comment
“Everything old is new again.” – The Lonely Realist “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player...
The term “Luddite” owes its origin to 19th Century textile workers who opposed the Industrial Revolution because of its impact on skilled weavers – it reduced their pay and employment opportunities. Things haven’t changed for 21st Century American Luddites. They too cherish “the good old days,” which they remember as an idealistic 1950s when America’s post-WWII advantages propelled manufacturing supremacy. They are taking actions to restore the America they knew, rejecting the integration of technological progress into their version of reality. As a consequence, America is not planning for the foreseeable future.
Take manufacturing. Luddites want blue-collar industry to return to America. That can’t happen. Trump 2.0 nevertheless is incorporating it into his Everything, Everywhere, All at Once policy-making. But America no longer is living through the Age of Industrialization. The 21st Century is the Age of Innovation and Technological Revolution. Quality of life is being propelled by creatively combining the fruits of ongoing revolutions in agriculture, manufacturing, technology, robotics, energy and biotechnology, all of which require less human labor. That’s a good thing! The jobs of the present future will not be found by “onshoring” labor-intensive industries. Americans’ standard of living cannot support the increased costs of human-driven manufacturing. American zoning, employment, construction, and energy overhead are higher than those found anywhere else in China, India, Vietnam, Africa, etc. America’s laws, rules and regulations add significantly to those costs…, while providing desirable safety for American workers. American technology has consistently focused on innovation while leaving manufacturing efficiency to offshore workers. For that reason, American industry has not built the supply chains necessary to support a manufacturing economy. Onshoring them would take many unprofitable years. It also would require retraining America’s workforce. Why do it? The American education system is not geared towards such an economy…, even if that’s what Americans desired. After all, how much demand is there by Americans to work in factories which, in order to be efficient, must be located near resources, transportation and energy production and not where the majority of America’s unemployed currently reside? The return of manufacturing jobs therefore is a Luddite fantasy.
White-collar jobs also are under technological stress. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, predicts that AI is likely to wipe-out 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs, spiking unemployment to 10 to 20% within the next 1 to 5 years. Amodei warned that America should prepare for mass disruptions in tech, law, accounting and finance. “Most [workers] are unaware that this is about to happen…. We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming.” AI will impact both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Instead of addressing this rapid change, today’s Luddites are preaching a return to an outdated past. Yearning for “the good old days” is not a policy. It will not encourage the skills necessary to flourish in the coming AI automated world.
America excels at innovation, invention and education. Those are proven keys to wealth creation. Their pursuit has made America a magnet for innovators, investors and educators. While it is true that workers in other countries have been getting 

jeffcsiegel
Posted at 17:33h, 03 JuneManufacturing can move back to America. One tariff won’t fix the problem, but ignoring the problem will lead to the complete decline of America. If you cannot manufacture, you cannot make a Covid drug or military equipment. A country focused on financial engineering will lose wars as different countries in their supply chain cut them off.
Sun Tzu shows how the Chinese are great at playing the long game. “It is better to win without fighting.”
Since taking over the WTO, they have captured most of America’s manufacturing plants by stealing our technology and out working Americans. The Confucian work ethic along with plentiful slaves and fascist capitalism makes for one cheap iPhone. Consumers in the West take to this like the Opium wars of old.
China captured Hong Kong without the world saying anything at all. Their ownership of the supply chain made it so no one dared to complain. During the next administration they’ll do the same with Taiwan.
Modern manufacturing can move highly automated factories here. They won’t look like our parent’s factories. Past tariffs help encourage the Japanese and Koreans to build some amazing, world-class car factories here. The latest one’s will nudge things further, while in the short term collect vital billions from tax adverse global corporations.