Debt Rattle January 2 2017

 

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  • #32022

    Cary Grant and Constance Bennett, stars of the film ‘Topper’, drive the Topper Buick 1937 • ‘Patients Who Should Live Are Dying’: Greece’s Public Heal
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 2 2017]

    #32023
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Jim K. is so correct about manufacturing in the U.S..
    It may happen but, 3D printers and robotics will do all but the grunt work. A few programmers will do the programs to run the machines.
    As a former master machinist, CAD drafter and Cad designer/engineer until 2004; I watched manufacturing’s decline over a 30+ year period.
    The U.S. is now in a permanent employment depression; 94 million under employed or not employed.
    Education is no longer the road to anything except debt.
    A world made by hand indeed…

    #32030
    Dr. Diablo
    Participant

    So true. In addition, a core reason robots produce products is that they just do it better — faster, more accurately, with fewer mistakes and real 24/7 capacity utilization. However, there’s a lot going on there. Robots also require extremely accurate input stream. Plastic feeds that don’t vary. Parts that are the same, equal quality, and arrive on time. Is that going to be a given in a post peak oil world, or one with continual disruptions? How about one where the output needs suddenly change, for example where we created too many cars when car loans collapse and ought to make lawn mowers or generators instead? Presently robots need a setup that requires a lot of identical production, which means inputs and also worldwide shipping outputs, predictability, and open market reach. Also banking as it’s capex intensive, with huge, smooth advance loans.

    Last is an entirely different problem, and probably the one the Pentagon boys who fronted Trump are really focused on: in the inevitable repudiation of the US and US$, the nation will be cut off from world goods with a minimum $40B/year trade deficit. Once broken, the US$ will fall every day until it reaches equilibrium, and outside goods will get too expensive for Americans — PCs, car parts, shoes — which is what they’ve been fighting in a world war with millions dead and +10 countries invaded. But here it doesn’t matter one bit who creates the goods, robots or people, only that we can make something for ourselves rather than live barefoot in caves. Otherwise the nation (and Pentagon) will be helpless and defenseless. Claiming it will create US jobs, which it would, a little, is just a selling point. But keep in mind, if you at least start, and add the now-inevitable disruptions, you may add a lot more people than expected, as robots and automation are not well-suited to a chaotic, disrupted, localized world, where inputs and outputs are constantly changing.

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