Weapon of Mass Destruction
April 20th, 2010 | Editorial Cartoons | 4 Comments
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I somehow failed to post this last week. It went out to my syndicate, but I forgot to put it on the site. So, you get a twofer today.
The churning of industries and jobs is often referred to as the creative destruction of capitalism. While the loss of an industry is often a local disaster, the theory is that new technologies make new industries and jobs available, although not necessarily for the people who’ve been displaced. That’s a fine theory, but the reality of the last decade is that no net new jobs were created. The middle class saw its wages and benefits shrink, while health care costs ate up an increasing share of our income. The internet certainly had a hand in some of that destruction, wreaking havoc on any number of industries, my own included.
Topics: book publishing, economy, gaming, internet, jobs, magazines, newspapers, opinion, recording industry, retailing
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ed Stein. Ed Stein said: New blog post: Weapon of Mass Destruction http://edsteinink.com/2010/04/20/weapon-of-mass-destruction/ [...]
job losses have been aided and abetted across the political spectrum and accelerated by the vilest of creatures, the ‘bottom line’. businesses worry more about investors and shareholders than they do employees and customers. run a good business with good people taking care of customers, used to be the ticket to a successful business. run a person into the ground. why should the fed and the tax payers worry about bailing out investors? they took a chase by investing; there are no guarantees. okay, we prop up the losers so they can be winners and we can be losers. what if … we mandated jobs return here, no more outsourcing cheap child and prison labour, the company supports the community at large. good idea, I think. so how much should the rich ol’ white coot upstairs take home? surely not the tens of millions and more, can they live on a paltry $1,000,000.00? or 2? tough luck, welcome to the reality of most of us. I would like to enjoy Aspen culture, too, or lectures, music, comedy, art, fine food and wine.
back to point, when someone falls, someone else steps in, and, in today’s world, fixing the commons and shifting to greens should do a lot of good, problem is, who has the training in the brave new world of green?
I am a old guy and have been seeing this changeing world coming for the last 20 years. It has happened before and will happen again. I had my own business, Printing it strated changeing with the rise of computers. The same for Business forms, Computers replaced most of the forms that small business used, Less printing was needed because of the other media and the costs of Mailing. The old hands that started the glove factories and the coat, dress, suit and steel factories all sold out. The new owners want a quicker return on thier investment, the workers wanted more money, the owners moved overseas to cheap labor. It is not the Republicans fault nor the Democrats fault it is human nature to want more. We have to reinvent ourselves over and over or fall like all empires in history. That is the way of the world. What goes up must come down.
OldBT-I agree with you completely on this score. Businesses that cannot adapt will fail, and should fail. No one seems to miss the Pony Express, or the Wells-Fargo stagecoach, or the steamships, or Pan American Airways seaplanes. Now I am brought to the ‘too big to fail’ concept. Bail out the companies, why?, and save the investors, why? Investing is a more accepted way to gamble. Investing is taking a chance as there is no guarantee. Oops, guess there is. Something is wrong there. As a side note, I would suggest going back a few decades and splitting up the banks to where they were, state banks or savings and loans or investment houses, not all together now. Taking from one side of the building to fiddle on another is chancy with someone else’s money. Regulation kept us on an even keel many decades with smaller swings of the pendulum. Now, wow, that pendulum is wild. Until we are our brother’s keeper again, we need the government to regulate and keep in check and balance the situation. Eliminate greed, be aware and considerate, and maybe and hopefully it would not be needed. But it is, now. Anyway, you have seen your business move and evolve with changing times and modalities so you can maintain your success, and that is good; I congratulate you and wish you continued success.