"Look, Madame, where we live, look how we live ... look at the life we have...The Republic has forgotten us."
An American investment banker was at the pier of a
small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with
just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat
were several large yellowfin tuna. The American
complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish
and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American
then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch
more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to
support his family’s immediate needs. The American
then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your
time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little,
play with my children, take siestas with my wife,
Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip
wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full
and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard
MBA and could help you. You should spend more time
fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With
the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy
several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of
fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a
middleman you would sell directly to the processor,
eventually opening your own cannery. You would
control the product, processing, and distribution. You
would need to leave this small coastal fishing village
and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New
York City, where you will run your expanding
enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this
all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.
When the time is right you would announce an IPO
and sell your company stock to the public and become
very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a
small coastal fishing village where you would sleep
late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with
your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where
you could sip wine and play your guitar with your
amigos.”
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
Clean energy won’t save us – only a new economic system can ... yer not wrong there fella.
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
What happens when A) There's less to extract. B) Production is automated. I have a feeling we'll find out within the next 20 years. B will likely come first, and if it doesn't, then A is a given. The economy cannot survive, in its current state, either... unless you talk to Ocean .
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
Consider what the future will be. Essentially we need to move on in terms of technology. We need to do so from a Climate/Environment/Pollution etc... point of view, which will require an RBE. And we need to do so from a business efficiency point of view within the current political and economic constraints. That's the overview.
A business needs to do this upgrade in order to ensure its place in the market. That means that our logical future is that of individual businesses using automation as a means of becoming more efficient on many fronts. Especially in $ terms. This is a problem for the workforce. These people will have been "trained" in an area of the economy that is being automated. It should happen quickly (transition to RBE requires rapid adoption of technology). But it will be drawn out given the speed at which our current economy grows. Either way, the technology is going to be implemented.
I'm sure you understand how not good for the economy that is? Not just from the human perspective, but from a financial perspective. Less disposable income = less consumption = less tax = less $ from loss of production = less tax = less $ to sustain a growing workforce. To simplify. Someone's employee is someone else's customer/employer. This affects employer and employee alike.
This comes back to the transition to RBE requires rapid adoption of technology. But not in RBE terms. This is from an entirely financial perspective, using all of the tools that exist today. As I mentioned earlier, the technology shift is coming whether we like it or not, else the countries business won't be able to compete with production from overseas. What needs to be done is to encourage and purposefully implement the rapid adoption of technology for those companies that are truly ready to do it.
Consider this approach in terms of a new business ethic on behalf of both the employer and employee.
Example:
I'll use the current IRD decision as an example to underline what could have happened, had the approach you are about to read have been implemented. This approach is cost-neutral. 4000 people are on the chopping block. This means that we will potentially have 4000 people claiming some form of benefit. Either way, this also highlights that there is software to replace a wide range of jobs. This highlights that as businesses drive for efficiency, they have the ability to implement software that can replace accountants etc... The associated loss in tax revenue is one concern. There are other concerns, but I'm here to explain how the individual, business, government and wider economy could embrace the same technology, without seeing potentially 4000 human beings claiming some form of benefit. Did I mention that this is also cost neutral?
The IRD didn't just decide to let these people go. At some point in the past, a decision was made to implement a system that would potentially put 4000 people out of work. As such, let’s pretend that that decision was made 4 years ago.
In this scenario, we're going to assume that I was making the decision on how to handle the loss of those 4000 people 4 years ago. I would have suggested that we implemented the phase in of the software over a period of 5 years. The first 1/2 years will see the software implemented and "administered" by those 4000 people. The second 2/3 years would see those 4000 people fully paid, but not performing the job. This keeps us within the boundaries of the solution being cost neutral. After all, I’m making the decision and I see value in 4000 people having 2/3 years to retrain on full pay where they were going to be left with less income and the potential of a large retraining bill in industries that can be replaced by software. Everyone, and the economy benefits. It was all going to happen anyway, so it's cost neutral.
End example
That's our economic future using the tools we have today. Our social future. Well. You've seen the evidence. Reckon it might start to look a little brighter? heh. Makes the vertical farms look easy. Someone's employee is someone else's customer/employer.
I like this bit best for, what should be, obvious reasons. This does not have to be implemented by the government, nor have any need for government oversight. It is entirely up to the business community to figure out whether they'd like to do something together, or go it alone.
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
Oooooooo the above would be so useful for the economy right NOW ha ha ha haaaaaaa... coz it would, but no, let's create a situation were more borrowing is required and continue the madness. A little graphic on the telly box showed satellite air pollution levels before and after, and it was another good candidate for highlighting AGW (not saying that AGW is THE sole reason for heating, but our activity does have a larger effect). The people aren't eating each other either, they're simply finding something else to do... but unfortunately in conditions where they can't go out and do something else. Bit of a stretch to use the above given that much of the income coming in to Wuhan is from Exports, but it would certainly help those who live pay to pay or whose business is on its last legs and so on... and all without producing a thing (coz they're at home and not dead... food still arrives, water still flows, electricity is still generated, doctors/nurses are still "healing"... what else is really needed.). They'll probably just claim against the insurance instead and get back to it once the all clear is sounded... shame.
I didn't think!!! I experimented!!!
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