New post added at It’s Different This Time: Humans Need Not Apply; Two Possible Solutions On August 7, I wrote about McCashier Your $15.00 Per Hour McDonalds Worker Replacement.Sure. You can make $15 an hour at McDonalds, at least in Seattle. You just have to perform better than this machine.Many commented along the lines of Whats the big deal? Its only a cashier. There are more cooking jobs that cannot be replaced.For example reader Chris commented ... A McDonalds worker isnt a cashier. The person who works the front end doesnt just take orders and money. The person who works up front also fills drinks for drive thru. They clean the restrooms and dining areas. They help assemble food if needed(dropping fries.) Does the machine do all those things? If it doesnt then it isnt really replacing anything or more cost effective then a person. There is usually 2-3 people in the back assembling food and 2 people up front taking orders, handling money, assembling trays with ordered food, preparing drinks for drive thru, etc., etc. You could get the kiosk and the stupid burger machine and still have more than enough work for those 5 people.Really? What about robot cooks, robot greeters, and even robot waiters?Robot Cooks, Greeters, WaitersThe Times of India reports Robots Greet, Cook and Deliver Dishes at this Restaurant in China. Its more teatime than Terminator — a restaurant in China is electrifying customers by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food. Mechanical staff greet customers, deliver dishes to tables and even stir-fry meat and vegetables at the eatery in Kunshan, which opened last week.My daughter asked me to invent a robot because she doesnt like doing housework, the restaurants founder Song Yugang told AFP.Two robots are stationed by the door to cheerfully greet customers, while four short but humanoid machines carry trays of food to the tables. In the kitchen, two large blue robots with glowing red eyes specialize in frying, while another is dedicated to making dumplings.Song told the local Modern Times newspaper that each robot costs around 40,000 yuan ($6,500) — roughly equal to the annual salary of a human employee.The robots can understand 40 everyday sentences. They cant get sick or ask for vacation. After charging up for two hours they can work for five hours, he added. Robot WaitersA restaurant in China is electrifying customers by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food. (AFP Photo)Robot Cooks This photo taken on August 13, 2014, shows a robot cooking vegetables in a kitchen of a restaurant in Kunshan. (AFP Photo)Humans Need Not ApplyMany people sent me a link to Humans Need Not Apply.The 15 minute video is well done and very thought provoking. Its well worth your time to play it.Is It Different This Time?The gist of the video is that Its Different This Time, that no matter what your job is, your job is in jeopardy. I have stated that over the long haul, technology creates jobs, but there are periods of creative destruction where the opposite happens. For example: How many millions of jobs did the internet revolution create? Did they all vanish? No they did not vanish, and they all wont.Yet, we are in a creative destruction phase where computers take jobs away. Will this change? I dont know the catalyst, but historically speaking, it always has.What about the meantime? And for those who think the setup is permanent, the problem has even more severe implications.Many readers have written this is why we need a guaranteed income, not a guaranteed minimum living wage. Lets quickly dispense with such nonsense.Pay people to do nothing and you promote doing nothing. Do we have enough energy resources to give everyone on the planet, a guaranteed living income?The answer is no, we dont.Reflections on ProductivityThe natural state of affairs because of increased productivity over time is an increased standard of living, more free, time, and falling prices.Productivity and technological breakthroughs are inherently price-deflationary. Enter the Fed and central banks in general. Central banks are hell bent on producing 2% or more inflation in a deflationary world.That is the source of the battle over living wages. The problem is money does not go far enough, rather than people do not make enough. Realistically, no one in their right mind should care if wages fall, if increased productivity makes prices fall faster.But central banks do not want prices to fall. Nor do those who control the assets (the banks, the bureaucrats, and the already wealthy) want prices to fall.So, with the Fed promoting inflation, bureaucrats promoting higher and higher minimum wages, and with the Fed holding interest rates artificially low, corporations have every incentive to replace workers with robots at a Fed-induced artificially high rate.Two Possible SolutionsThe solution is not higher minimum wages. The solution is not a tax on robots like Paul Krugman wants. The solution is not a guaranteed income.The solution is to eliminate the Fed, eliminate fractional reserve lending, and give the free market a chance to create jobs at its own pace, without all this government and central bank interference.The alternative solution and not one I support, is to kill off a lot of needless people by starting WWIII.Mike Mish Shedlockglobaleconomicanalysis.blogspotMike Mish Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit sitkapacific/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 01:13:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015