This week’s article will be on the dark side. I promise by the end, I will flip this around and offer solutions, and make what appears to be something gloom and doom, have a possible happy ending.
Having studied artificial intelligence and business automation for the last couple of years. I believe the unemployment numbers in the US and worldwide, over the next five years, because of technological automation, will be much higher than anyone is talking about.
Here are a couple of examples I found on the Internet. I think they give a good pulse to what some polls are saying could happen within the next 5 to 10 years.
A recent report by think tank Centre for Cities estimates that 1 in 5, or 3.6 million, British jobs will probably be ‘displaced’ by 2030 due to automation and globalization.
From Forbes.com
If 1 In 5 Jobs Is ‘Displaced’ Due To Automation, What Does That Mean For HR?
The News is Spinning Distractions
Mainstream and Internet media is continuing to spin major distractions that are keeping people away from learning the truth about what’s happening with technology. I don’t think this is something purposely being done to distract people away from the subject. It’s being done to sensationalize everything and to keep people staring into a screen for as long as possible, especially when these things are negative and cause large emotional reactions in people. This seems to be the protocol for how the media works, as well as, social media. It keeps people’s eyeballs staring into their screens for a longer time capitalizing on their emotional impulses with negative distractive information.
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) of $1000 a Month
Recently, I heard Presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, talk about the need for a universal wage of $1000 a month for every US citizen. At first, I was skeptical of this and thought this was to some type of political marketing spin and tactic, attempting to get people’s attention. Listening and watching Mr. Yang’s talk on many videos, I realized and came to believe, that he’s genuine and sincere about the things he’s talking about. What was interesting, is that a lot of the things he is saying, are things I have been talking about for the last couple years. I can completely relate to him and understand where he is coming from.
It’s amazing that none of the other presidential candidates are talking about UBI, because…as you will find out, it’s probably one of the most important subjects right now we can discuss in the US, besides global warming.
In this article, let’s look at his plan. Let’s see if it will work, and, what will happen in the next five years to the US economy, if something like this isn’t implemented? What will the results be and look like?
The Southern US Is Headed for an Economic Crash
I’ve discussed this before, that the Southern United States is headed for deep crash. A deep economic crash. The top five employment industries in this US South are healthcare, retail, manufacturing, education and hospitality.
Automation technology will impact all of those industries. In fact, retail and manufacturing, will be completely automated and will not even be industries that a person can work in anymore within the next 5 to 10 years.
Healthcare will radically change as more jobs are lost in that industry to technology. Education will change, as more jobs are lost in education to technology, as well as in the hospitality industry. All of these industries, that support the Southern United States will soon become outdated, will not even exist in their present form. I talked about this a couple of years ago. There is a disaster waiting to happen in the southern part of the United States.
Reports show that the Southern US has the unhealthiest states in the entire country.
“For the 29th year in a row, the United Health Foundation has ranked America’s states.”
These reports list such things as physically active states, obesity, child poverty rates, percentage of uninsured people, drug deaths, smoking, violent crime, excessive drinking and lack of healthcare workers.
This means that a great part of the US will be impacted directly by technological change in job and industry loss, but will also put the greatest burden we’ve ever seen on the US healthcare system, that is already overburdened. There is no way that the healthcare system in the Southern US, will be able to handle what’s coming. Many in the South, I’m sure will migrate to states in the Midwest and on the West Coast to seek employment and healthcare options, but there will not be jobs for many and the overburdened US healthcare system, cannot deal with this. I have spoken with many people in the healthcare industry and worked in the healthcare industry for years. I can tell you that, the US healthcare system is overburdened right now to where this would break it, if this happened.
According to the United Health Foundation report, Louisiana has high rates of obesity and the highest percentage of children in poverty and a higher rate of infectious diseases, Mississippi has the highest rate of heart disease deaths and high diabetes among its residents, Alabama has a lack of healthcare workers from dentists to mental health professionals for its population, Arkansas has some of the highest cancer and heart disease death rates of the 50 states and South Carolina has seen its obesity rates increase by 11% over the past 6 years to 34.1% of adults in the state.
Automation unemployment will just increase the already unhealthy situation in the Southern US.
Looking at a study as of 2014, the top job in 29 states is truck and delivery drivers.
The trucking industry will be greatly impacted by self-driving trucks in the next five years. This is something I have heard Presidential candidate Andrew Yang also talk about. The largest industry in the United States, is one that’s going to radically change and one that will lead to a lot of employment.
The Top Industries in The US Will Change and Jobs Will Disappear
When you look at the top five industries driving the US economy in 2019, you get a real picture of what’s to come.
The 5 Industries Driving the U.S Economy are Health Care, Technology, Construction, Retail and Nondurable Manufacturing.
“The retail trade accounts for 6 percent of the nation’s GDP with a GDP value added of $905 billion. The retail industry is the largest employer in the United States, according to World Atlas, and 10 percent of total employment in the United States is in retail. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail supports one in four U.S. jobs, or 42 million working Americans.”
That alone is 6 percent of the US GDP $905 billion, that will be impacted by automation and the largest employer in the United States will disappear, as well as 42 million US jobs will be replaced.
The retail and manufacturing industries will deposit somewhere in the neighborhood of over 50+ million people into the ranks of the unemployed in the next 5-10 years. That’s not counting truck drivers and transportation, the largest industry in the US I just talked about. This will be added to it.
Don’t get worried or depressed because I promise a solution is on the way.
Not many people are talking about how AI automation will affect white-collar jobs. This is something I wrote an article about last year, because was watching many of these jobs already disappear.
Check out the article and podcast I did last year on this subject.
U.S. Economy is Built on a Foundation of Sand
Automation Will Affect White-Collar Jobs First
Lower middle management and junior level executive positions were being replaced last year in many companies. This wasn’t making the news because it didn’t have the right sensationalistic things to get people sitting there and staring into their computers and phones. This is something that will continue to happen, not only in 2019. But over the next five years and it will increase in numbers. The truth is, that white-collar jobs are easier to replace with technology than blue-collar jobs and they will be replaced in mass.
As you can see a huge technological tsunami is headed towards US and world economy. It’s coming in waves and these waves will get larger and larger over time. It doesn’t appear that the media is concerned, it also doesn’t appear that US politicians are concerned about this, because hardly anyone is talking about.
What can be done about this? If anything?
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s universal basic income plan known as UBI, is a plan that gives $1000 a month to all Americans over 18 years old and I think it makes sense. It’s not enough money for anyone to live on, but it’s enough for people to start a business and pay bills. It’s also enough to energize a lot of communities right now, where people don’t have an extra income.
Is the US Becoming a Third World Country?
I recently heard on a Joe Rogan podcast that there are millions of people in the US Southern Gulf states that are living on two dollars a day or $14 a week.
In their book, “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” academics Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer reveal that there are nearly 1.5 million American households with practically no cash income.
This means we have people right now in the US starving. They can’t even get food for themselves and their families and are doing what they can to feed themselves by trying to find food in garbage cans. This is not something that’s happening in a third world country, it’s something happening right now in the United States, and paints a very bleak picture for future, if something is not done.
A thousand dollars a month, could help many people to pay bills, to have shelter and to get something to eat. This should be the right of every US citizen. When you look at how many people today cannot even afford a thousand dollar emergency expense, it’s frightening.
A new survey from LendingTree finds that 6 out of 10 millennials (which LendingTree classifies as those aged 22 to 37) say they don’t have enough put away to handle a $1,000 emergency expense.
Only 48% of Americans say they could handle a $1,000 emergency expense using cash or savings in their bank accounts.
These statistics, alone, show why a $1000 a month UBI would go a long way in helping a lot of Americans.
It shows that many people need more money to live and pay their bills. These are not people that are not working. I have talked with many young mothers, single mothers, who are tired because of having to work two and three jobs in fast food and retail just to survive. Just to feed their children, just to have shelter for themselves and for their children. Something needs to be done about this, because no one working two and three jobs a week to support their family just to survive is lazy, as some people in the media like to claim.
Let’s Play Monopoly
Let’s use the game of Monopoly as an example of what I think is happening and will happen if change doesn’t happen. Ten people sit down and they’re playing the game of Monopoly. Two of the people playing, represent giant US technology corporations or giant US corporations. The other eight people playing the game, are middle and lower class Americans.
The two people that are representing the technology companies and large corporations, have a lot more money to start with, more than the other eight people, a lot more. They also get the advantage of moving around the board numerous times and buying property, before the rest of the people even get a chance to start playing the game. Now all ten people are playing this game of Monopoly. The two people who represent the largest technology companies and large corporations, now own the best most valuable pieces of property on the board, because of the money and advantages they have. They are stacking hotels on those properties. Now the other eight people playing see how long they can survive in this game. It won’t take long before all of their money is gone and is given to the other two players. All eight of them will eventually lose, regardless, of what they started with and what they had. That’s what we’re facing in the United States and worldwide, in the future with automation and technology.
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is Great for US Companies
One thing I’ve heard Andrew Yang say and is a universal basic income of a thousand dollars a month, is not only good for people to be able to pay bills and have money to spend, but it’s also a good thing for companies.
Companies that pay what he calls a Value-Added Tax (VAT) of 10% are all going to reap the rewards of it, because when people have extra disposable income they spend it. People are going to be buying these same company’s products and services. There will continue to be more consumers. A lot of that money will go back to Amazon and to other corporations. Companies will get a lot of that money back. What they’re doing with this Value-Added Tax and universal income, is there investing in themselves and in the US economy at the same time. It’s really a business investment for the future of capitalism and corporate America.
I will tell you what happens to these companies if they don’t do this. As tens of millions of Americans become unemployed, because of technology, and large numbers of them leave the workforce, and can no longer earn a living. At that point, they will stop purchasing and go into survival mode. They will stop buying entertainment. They will look for bargains. This will set up a huge competition among companies, especially large companies that compete for mass consumer dollars. Since there will be less mass consumer dollars, these companies will have to compete at a level they have never known before. This will drive down their profits and many of them will go out of business. They will be all playing that game. Large and small companies, playing corporate Russian roulette, who survives and who doesn’t. Fiercely competing for the meager consumer spend that’s left. That’s the game that these companies will then be asked to play, because it’s something they’ve helped to create. And this will work against all of them. For this reason, it’s better to give people a little back, that they all can afford, to get it back and to stay in business and have consumers with expendable income or else play the hyper competitive, corporate Russian roulette game.
The companies that voluntarily and publically support the Value-Added Tax and UBI, will come out way ahead, because they are now seen as companies investing in the United States and helping people to live better lives. This is a win–win situation and I’m not sure why the large US technology companies and many large US corporations are not jumping on this opportunity and supporting Andrew Yang and his Value-Added Tax and UBI.
Socialism Scare Tactics – Cold War Baby Boomer Nonsense
I hear a lot of people lately, on the mainstream news sites saying, that’s it’s a bad idea to give people a universal basic income, because they need to work, calling it socialism. Tell that to the single mother who is working two and three jobs every week, to keep a roof over her family’s head and food on the table, with just barely enough left over for her kids to go to school. Tell that to the people who were failed by an outdated US public school system that didn’t even teach them to read.
All of these people can be trained for future jobs, right?
Illiteracy in the US
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50% of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
Approximately, 32 million adults in the United States can’t read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy.
45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read.
50% of the unemployed between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.
Between 46 and 51% of American adults have an income well below the poverty level because of their inability to read.
Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.
Does this sound like a society of people that can be educated for future technology jobs?
As I have pointed out with illiteracy, this something that mainstream news is not discussing. There is no way that an illiterate US society, where tens of millions of people cannot read or barely read and write, can be trained for future technological jobs. In a country where the public education system has been not properly funded and public school teachers around the US, have to go on strike to make a livable wage. How can people who cannot read or write, become programmers, coders, and software developers for the future? They’re not and won’t, because they can’t. It’s ridiculous for anyone to say a lot of people can be trained for the jobs of the future, because it makes little sense, and I’m not sure they’re even living in the real world along with the rest of us?
Technology and automation job loss, will affect a lot of people, blue-collar and white-collar jobs. In the next five years, we will see a great deal of unemployment and major changes. Here’s what we have to look forward to if change doesn’t happen.
The Great Technological World-Wide Depression
We’re going to have another recession, we always do, and they come in cycles and were now due for another one. This recession, because of mass layoffs that will come with it, so that companies can automate, is going to be a very, very deep recession. When the jobs don’t come back, because they’re automated way during this deep recession, this deep recession will turn into a US depression that will make the great US depression of 1929, look like nothing, because this will be a global depression. Unlike anything we’ve ever seen and dealt with before. This will not only be a Great Depression in the United States, but it will affect the entire world, we will have an entire worldwide economic collapse. This is the horror of the future that all of us have to look forward to, unless we understand what’s coming and we do the right things.
The right thing is to create a universal basic income and to pay everybody a thousand dollars a month, untaxed in their pocket every month. And that’s just the start, because it will have to be become at some point, a living wage for many people later on. This is not socialism, this is just a smart thing to do. I don’t believe that it benefits large technology companies and large corporations, to live in a world where capitalism collapses and there is a massive economic worldwide collapse and depression. I think no one wants to live in that world, no matter how much power and money they have. This is something that can be prevented if we act. If we do something now.
Realize what’s happening and help by sending out this article to other people so they can become aware of what’s really going on. Let’s demand and support Andrew Yang’s universal basic income for every American citizen, and provide healthcare to every American citizen, like the rest of the world does. There is a large technological tsunami coming, and we can prevent its devastation by being prepared for it. We have plenty of advance notice that it’s coming and what we can do, and what our future looks if we don’t act. What we do now as a country, will be completely up to all of us, and putting our heads in the sand and not thinking about it because it sounds scary and we don’t and to dealing with it, will only make matters worse.
There are solutions…