On Mon, 5 Sep 2011 18:31:59 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

On Sep 5, 6:56*pm, Wayne B wrote:
On Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:44:15 -0400, wrote:
I saw the same thing in computer rooms all over town.
58 IBM employees an a 2 story office complex were reduced to 3 guys
working from home.

We are simply getting a lot more work done with fewer workers. That
does not bode well for "labor".

===

Things change and the world has to change with them and adapt.
Ultimately the increased productivity and efficiency is good for the
economy and everyone's standard of living. *It certainly does create
some dislocations along the way for the buggy whip manufacturers
however. *

I spent many years as a manager at a highly automated IT operation.
We still needed people, just not as many, and they did different
things than in the past. * One of our running jokes was something like
this:

How many operations people do you need on third shift?

Answer: *One operator and one dog.

What does the dog do?

He makes sure the operator doesn't touch anything...

The old days of guys running around with racks full of mag tapes,
boxes of line printer paper, *and carts full of punched cards are long
gone. *Truth is that they weren't very good jobs anyway, just a
stepping stone to something better.

There will always be jobs for people with craft skills however:
Machinists, Electronic prototypers, Technicians of all types, Cabinet
makers, Mechanics, Framers, Roofers, Concrete workers, Brick layers,
Stone workers, etc. *Those jobs don't automate very well and are just
about impossible to export.

Then there's people like me. I got tired of being laid off 33 years
ago, so I made my own job. I'm not rich but I haven't been laid off
since.

===

You're a successful entrpreneur, a highly skilled profession by
anyone's estimation, and in exactly the kind of job that can never be
exported. It's hard to believe that someone with a down piece of
farm equipment during harvest season would look overseas for help or
dicker too strongly over price. You're making a good honest living
and providing a valuable service at the same time.