Concert of my Life
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I write a lot about social/political/world issues and you may or may not agree with my opinions. I am not and do not claim to be an expert on any of the topics, and am only presenting my thoughts formed from knowledge gained through research or school. Feel free to let me know what you think, I am always open to new ideas and perspectives.
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New Page to collect all Posts related to Society/World Issues: Thoughts on Society
Fascinating article looking at how investment is too glorified during these debates over the nation’s economy. It makes great arguments that even the smartest and most well funded business venture will fail if everyone is too poor to buy the product, which is a future we are rapidly heading towards if this income inequality keeps widening.
I want to note that I am still undecided and murky about figures like Steve Jobs. Though I’ve gathered from this article and from other sources, the business effects of Apple’s products have had significant negative effects (technological efficiency erases jobs, and Apple moves its jobs overseas). I would think though that it has also had many positive effects, and also had significant cultural/societal value. This is not to diminish the negative business/economic effects, but I’m just saying that it’s complicated, and I’m not sure what to think just yet.
An interesting little piece at Sociological Images that takes an interesting look at the whole H&M Fake Models mini-scandal. It makes the insightful observation that modeling is becoming like many other industries that have shed jobs because of increased efficiency through technology. Why work hard to be a model and get paid for it when the company can just digitally construct a body and then pay you a little money for a picture of your head? While I personally don’t like the direction that America and other countries take modeling to a skinny extreme, I am sympathetic to how technology literally destroys jobs.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert in this field. My arguments are based on second hand information that I think I recall from other sources such as news articles, opinion editorials, high school courses, or college courses. Do correct me if I am wrong or if you disagree.
So I was taking a break from studying to eat dinner and I was watching the PBS NewsHour. And they were talking about how the US Postal Service is going to close down thousands of processing centers to save like $2 billion or something. Which sounds great at first right? You know, be more efficient, save money, save taxpayer money. Run like a business right? If a business has less demand, it should cut unnecessary costs right? Yeah here comes the kicker. These cuts and future cuts could affect, if not outright eliminate, 100,000 jobs. Did you see that right? Let me write it again. 100,000 jobs. 100,000 job spaces in the US economy are going to vanish into thin air. 100,000 Americans are going to have to find 100,000 jobs that don’t exist anymore.
Now I’m not saying that the USPS shouldn’t make/take cuts. I’m saying citizens, especially the GOP leadership, can’t just make simplistic and broad statements about “cutting the size of Government”. As if by cutting taxes and Government spending to the bones is a cure-all, which it is definitely not. Because it’s a lot more complex than just “cutting spending”. Because that “horrifying” Government spending actually employs millions of people, either directly or indirectly through contracting. And when GOP leaders make brazen statements about cutting out whole sections of Government, they are also proposing cutting out thousands of jobs. Yes, wasteful spending must be reigned in. Yes, efficiency should be improved. Yes, corruption must be stopped. No, you cannot generalize Government as this terrible entity that needs to be massively downsized or outright eliminated, because unless the free market can recreate those vital services and jobs, which I doubt it will or is able to, you’re sentencing thousands of people to join the other millions of unemployed Americans.
If you haven’t heard, the US Postal Service is on the edge. It could go into default this month. No matter what, huge cuts are going to be made to the good old USPS, and “Snail Mail” in the US is going to change forever. This strikes me very personally, because I am a believer in technology. But I am realizing that technology has very serious implications for the landscape of the economy and jobs.
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