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Canuck57[_9_]

On 06/09/2011 2:59 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:58:39 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

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

On Sep 5, 6:56 pm, Wayne 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.

I never had a clue that you were this clueless. Tim could be easily
replaced by some Chinese factory producing starters and alternators
for pennies on the dollar. Why do I need a repair when I can buy new
for less?

I closed one of my businesses years ago because I couldn't run an MRO
facility for less than the cost of cheap new **** from the Pacific rim
flooding into the US.

My employees lost their jobs because:

I had to pay shipping, Chinese companies are apparently paid to ship
by the government.

Either I or my employees had to pay healthcare, the Chinese company or
employees didn't.

My employees had to make a living wage to be able to afford gasoline
to come to work. They didn't belong to the state like the Chinese.

Without (US) governmental intervention, who can compete with that?

Ex-employees? Some of them retrained and now live a life with a much
lower standard of living. Some of them are still unemployed. Some? I
just don't know.

Tim? Really. Make preparations for a forced retirement. I'm not trying
to be negative, I'm just being realistic. Hang in there as long as you
can, just make sure you have a fall-back position.

True but the Chinese government does not pay for shipping. Companies
like Walmart do. So much bull**** about how the Chinese really work it
isn't funny. But they don't have $150/hr long shoreman unions and
incompetent management with a hyper-inflated over cost economic environment.

Lower over all standard of living is about as assured as it gets for
Americans. Too much bull**** and debt-fraud. How many would want life
threatening surgery from a pot smoking union G12 flunky? Fact is the
union and entitlement types have expectations set into an unrealistic
walla land. This includes the 6 digit politicians by the way so I am
not mean the system is corrupt with expectations. Not entirely their
fault either, government fosters hyper-inflated economy as it generates
more bigger government.

But the balloon sprung a leak....

Good advice though, hang on to the good job as long as you can, hoard
money and retire early in Ecuador.

--
First rule of holes: If your in one, don't keep digging.
So in the hole, why do we insanely want more debt?