Raise the Hammer

Good post Yeahbut, lots to think about.

The one thing I will comment on now is the loss of jobs.

it will be done by machines that will work for less than slaves

True, but maintaining machines is a good living. Robotic engineers, industrial electricians, millwrights and PLC programmers are all better jobs than assembly line worker.

In the information age the Spec employs fewer people to disseminate what it still calls news, and, so far as I can tell, this "editorial" information vehicle we call RTH pays no one at all. Ryan doesn't even promise that there's a cheque in the mail. Huge chunks of the explosion of information we produce so efficiently through digitization are disseminated through systems that work well with no constriction point at which to collect money.

Again true, but the system required to disseminate that news is much more involved than some staff writer a press operator and a paper boy. The worldwide web, Google, IT departments and companies that build the endless stream of digital "must have" products (e.g., blackberry, iphone, etc…) have all expanded or been created by the information age. Jobs disappeared but others were created.

I agree with much of what you have said to one extent or another but also feel some of the change we are seeing that is causing the pain many people are feeling could have been avoided if our governments had a bit more of a clue and the ability to make tough decisions. The writing was on the wall decades ago. To raise the standard of living in the developing world through globalization, the standard of living for people doing similar jobs in developed countries was going to decline. Many, many, people saw this coming but our governments refused to understand the full implications of the agenda they were pushing, (i.e., globalization). Our governments naively believed the status quo could be maintained and now they have even propped up our outdated and unsustainable system using tax payer money. Our governments, and to some extent all of us, failed to make the necessary decisions to transition our economy successfully into the 21st century globalized economy.

Lately, I tend to see politics as more disabling than enabling.

SIGH Me too.