Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I disagree. Technology does not kill jobs in manufacturing or services. It does in farming.

But in manufacturing, and services more technology merely means that people get more stuff. People buy more clothes more gadgets, more of everything. Or if they buy the same amount of gadgets their gadgets are more complex, etc. Thus, when technology results in higher production it is usually matched with higher consumption.

There are two things that are killing jobs in the US right now: the export of jobs offshore, and poverty. The US economy is actually creating shitloads of jobs, the problem is that we are creating them in China. China is still doing monetary tightening to slow down its growth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14117778

The other thing is poverty. Since the new deal the US has usually had some kind of mechanism to ensure that the middle and lower middle class is relatively protected and relatively well off. This included unions, minimum wage legislation, and various government programs. Nowadays most of these things are being eroded. This means that people cannot buy more stuff, which means that there are fewer jobs, which means people buy even fewer stuff, which results in even fewer jobs, etc.

To determine whether technology is killing jobs, you can ask yourself the following hypothetical question: Does everybody in the world have every manufactured good or service they could possibly want? If the answer is true, then technology has killed all hope of future economic growth. But the answer is sooo far away from being true, that the question itself sounds ridiculous.

So no it is not technology. It is something else in the way our society is ordered and run that is doing it.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: