Reasonable alternatives to automation, outsourcing and globalization...

[MessiahDecoy123]

Are there any?

 

[Hotwire]

Automation is unavoidable. Eventually, there will be ways to replace people with machines in nearly ever facet of manufacturing. I work in a large bakery making bread. Our line takes 13 people to run and, looking at it, some of those could be automated. I mean, a lot of us spend 12 hours standing around waiting for things to go wrong.

As for outsourcing, as long as it's cheaper, it's going to continue. The only way to stop it is making it more expensive to ship jobs overseas. While this fixes our unemployment issues, it creates them elsewhere.

Globalization... The world is no longer big enough to prevent that.

 

[MaceB]

I don't think the question is whether we can fight automation and globalization - we can't. I think the question is how we situate ourselves given that reality.
Automation is coming more and more every day. One day, we'll wake up and find that most of our factory and manual labor jobs are gone due to automation. Everyone is against this, because, of course, it means many of us will be out of work.
IMO, We shouldn't be angry that automation is taking away our lower wage jobs. We should be happy. It obviously sucks when people lose work, but automation gives us more time to re-educate and learn new skills. Those jobs aren't ever coming back. We shouldn't be fighting to keep the low wage factory jobs. We should be fighting to elevate those workers and placing them in human-essential positions that pay more.
What we need now is more creativity. Okay, so we don't need people to make our cosmetics anymore. But we do need people to cure illness, to invent cutting edge products, to ensure our safety. There are many things that the world still needs. Now, we can focus on them. The US shouldn't be the fast food employee nation. It should be the country that builds huge structures, that innovates better ways to store energy and clean water.
And yes, this will mean a period of transition and hurt. I don't see any way around it. But we need to Rodenbury this thing. Let's get out of this place that says, "well we can't improve this, this, and this... because it would lead to hurt." Change always leads to hurt. But this is America. The American dream is that you can become successful if you work hard. So let's put people back to work... just instead of a factory, it'll have to be in a school or hospital. If you can't compete in that world, I'm sorry.. that's terrible... but all we can do is give you the resources to pull yourself up. We can't do it for you.
It's a harsh reality, but it's time we start facing it. You're coca cola factory job is gone. Let's get you to work designing a better delivery system for coca cola instead.

 

[Pink Ranger]

When someone complains about automation, I ask them why they go to an ATM instead of lining up at the bank to get money from a teller.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Alternatives? Education, innovation, and preparation. Technological and economic evolution will demand it.

Politicians can promise whatever they want but the truth is as the first world becomes more evolved, it will be a requirement in order to keep up (hell, it already is). If we sit around and try to revert to the manufacturing economy we had 50 years ago, we're going to be laughed at globally and then wonder why the likes of India and China have completely blown by us as a presence in the world.