Report Card for Donald Trump

[Warren Dew]

(01-12-2017, 01:08 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(01-11-2017, 08:48 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(01-11-2017, 04:27 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: Now you're just making things up.  The first Unimation robots went out to GE in 1961, and the PUMA was made in 1978.  And yet the global number of manufacturing workers has not shrunk, has it?  The US numbers peaked in 1979, but plateaued for 20 years, and didn't start to tumble until 2000, which I maintain had much more to do with trade policy than it did automation.  It is presently increasing.  The global number of manufacturing workers didn't shrink during this period either.  In any event, the use of machines to boost human productivity in manufacturing has been going on for at least 200 years, i

Out of curiosity, what policy changes do you think caused the labor market shifts in around 2000?

Politicians set policy. Politicians cannot stop some economic realities.

Capitalism is much more effective in creating opportunity where there are shortages. If multitudes want something new and expensive (like cars in the early part of the 20th century; wristwatches, refrigerators, radios, phonographs, televisions, personal computers,  and video-game players at various times, then there are opportunities for capitalists. Once markets are saturated, the high prices and opportunities for both capitalists and manufacturing workers are gone. The economy then goes to replacement which makes a manufactured object a commodity instead of a big-ticket item.

I was asking because 2000 was around when there was a steep decline in manufacturing employment in the US, compensated by a rise in health care and certain other categories.  The graph looked like what might result from a policy change, rather than economic changes, which are more continuous.

I agree with you that traditional manufacturing is not the future.  I think the future is in services, and ideally our economic policies should promote the transition to services.