straightUp Loc: California

So, I wonder what the new tax reform is going to look like when it reaches Donny's desk.

In looking at the Senate bill, one thing really jumps out at me... the tax credit for purchasing factory equipment went from 50% to 100%. That's actually good news for me personally, because I'm a software developer that's been specializing in automation, which falls into the category of factory equipment. I am currently writing code that enables machines to do what telecom field technicians are doing now. I expect many such field technicians will be laid off next year. I can also write code to enable robots to drive trucks, grow food, build cars... pretty much anything that doesn't require fast intuitive responses and even in those cases manual overrides can green-light the project. That means instead of 30 people following procedures, each one capable of responding to unexpected problems, you have 1 robot with 60 arms following procedures and one person reading a magazine until something unexpected happens.

30 workers replaced with 1 robot and 1 worker... Great for business. Bad for workers.

So, what I am saying here is that I am part of the problem for a LOT of American workers facing layoffs now and in the future. Many families will suffer. Many will in fact die as a direct result. I'm also making this very clear to all the workers out there that the corporations that benefit from this change in the tax code are going to hire me, not you.

Now that you see where I stand in all this, let me also make something VERY clear. My 30 years of experience in the design and development of industrial software was never driven by a desire to put people out of work... it was driven by a genuine interest in technology. It just so happens that long after I committed myself to this career path, the opportunities I am presented with have become increasingly related to automation and well, I have mouths to feed too.

But here's the point I want to make.

Because of the nature of my work I have been vigilant with regard to the threat of automation, which is an issue that is starkly absent from the Trumpian narrative. So, I wonder what the new tax reform is going to look like when it reaches Donny's desk.

In looking at the Sentate bill, one thing really jumps out at me... the tax credit for purchasing automation equipment went from 50% to 100%. That's actually good news for me personally, because I'm a software developer that's been specializing in automation. I am currently writing code that enables machines to do what telecom field technicians are doing now. I expect many such field technicians will be laid off next year. I can also write code to enable robots to drive trucks, grow food, build cars... pretty much anything that doesn't require fast intuitive responses and even in those cases manual overrides can green-light the project. That means instead of 30 people following procedures, each one capable of responding to unexpected problems, you have 1 robot with 60 arms following procedures and one person reading a magazine until something unexpected happens.

30 workers replaced with 1 robot and 1 worker... Great for business. Bad for workers.

So, what I am saying here is that I am part of the problem for a LOT of American workers facing layoffs now and in the future. Many families will suffer. Many will in fact die as a direct result. I'm also making this very clear to all the workers out there that the corporations that benefit from this change in the tax code are going to hire me, not you.

Now that you see where I stand in all this, let me also make something VERY clear. My 30 years of experience in the design and development of industrial software was never driven by a desire to put people out of work... it was driven by a genuine interest in technology. It just so happens that long after I committed myself to this career path, the opportunities I am presented with have become increasingly related to automation and well, I have mouths to feed too.

But here's the point I want to make.

Because of the nature of my work I have been vigilant with reagard to the threat of automation, which is an issue that is starkly absent from the Trumpian narrivatve. In fact, automation only seems to come up when one considers the alarming increase automation is taking in the factory equipment market. I have seen a great deal of concern however in other quadrants of the political arena. For instance San Francisco County Supervisor Jane Kim has explored the idea of implementing a ”robot tax” on companies for every robot they employ to perform a job previously done by humans. The revenue raised by the tax would fund the retraining of displaced workers.

I would feel a lot better about my job if I knew the government was trying to help the workers that I am helping corporations displace. But if clueless Donny signs this bill as it stands, the so-called "champion of jobs" is actually sponsoring the greatest threat to American jobs in history, either because he is too stupid to understand what he is signing or because he doesn't really care.

My advise to ALL American workers. Spend some time looking into industrial automation. Use your own sources if that's all you trust. If they respond with anything suggesting a hoax or a conspiracy theory, move to the next source. Industrial automation is not a hoax, it's not a conspiracy theory... it's simply good business for any corporation looking to compete on the market. For his own sake and the sake of his family, the worker needs to understand when the demand for his employment is waning.I have seen a great deal of concern however in other quadrants of the political arena. For instance San Francisco County Supervisor Jane Kim has explored the idea of implementing a ”robot tax” on companies for every robot they employ to perform a job previously done by humans. The revenue raised by the tax would fund the retraining of displaced workers.

I would feel a lot better about my job if I knew the government was trying to help the workers that I am helping corporations displace. But if clueless Donny signs this bill as it stands, the so-called "champion of jobs" is actually sponsoring the greatest threat to American jobs in history, either because he is too stupid to understand what he is signing or because he doesn't really care.

My advise to ALL American workers. Spend some time looking into industrial automation. Use your own sources if that's all you trust. If they respond with anything suggesting a hoax or a conspiracy theory, move to the next source. Industrial automation is not a hoax, it's not a conspiracy theory... it's simply good business for any corporation looking to compete on the market. For his own sake and the sake of his family, the worker needs to understand when the demand for his employment is waning.

son of witless

Why doesn't automation threaten government jobs ?

Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

Silly question Witless.

son of witless

All of my questions are silly, but that was a sincere question. Government never shrinks. Most of what they do is pushing papers. Since so much of paper pushing is automated, why are paper pushers never replaced by automation ? Wait I forgot, you never answer silly questions.

Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

Right

son of witless

I do not have your silly question rule. I attempt in my own inadequate way to answer all questions put to me. I don't have a " silly " standard. The only 2 qualifications to that are if the question is too long, or if some of your liberal com-padres asked me an obscene question as they were prone to do before rules of civility were enforced here.

Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

liberal com-padres?

straightUp Loc: California

It does.

Haven't you ever heard of drones? They are replacing soldiers, one of the most common government jobs there are. I guess that isn't necessarily "automation" because there is still a human controlling it, but that's just one step closer to automation, especially for patrolling and reconnaissance.

In other government departments like the IRS, automation is already taking over some of the accounting jobs. Accounting is one of the easiest jobs to automate.

straightUp Loc: California

I know you're being rhetorical and of course witless is asking a valid question and my last post provides at least one answer... Government jobs ARE being automated. If it doesn't seem that way, it might be due to the difference between a government employer and private-sector employer. Government employers have to contend with a LOT more worker protections, because when workers demand better protections, the government is constitutionally obliged to consider. And where the government can respond by adjusting it's own policies it takes regulation to extend those policies to a private business, which isn't always successful. Consequently, government workers do have better protections.

Private sector jobs would too if not for the dramatic overreactions of the pro-business coalition designed to convince people that any demand for worker protections is a communist conspiracy.

son of witless

They disliked Trump, you dislike Trump. What description is there ?

son of witless

I was not thinking soldiers. In the last 50 years we have gone from manual typewriters to word processors, printers, computers, accounting software, and from paper note books to floppy disks to thumb drives. Yet the government never lays off.

ldsuttonjr Loc: ShangriLa

Durp!

ldsuttonjr Loc: ShangriLa

Silly Rabbit...bad bob!

bahmer

Well the so called paper pushers are supposed to read and understand what is written on said papers and then either sign or refuse to sign and give reasons accordingly. Automation is designed to accomplish one task or a series of tasks over and over again in a prescribed sequence over and over again. This works well in factories where certain tasks are both boring and repetitive and thus causes worker fatigue.I was an automation engineer and those areas of a factory that was having high rates of operator fatigue or a high volume of defective parts due to operator error were looked at for ways that we could help reduce both. The areas that you are referring to are supposed to require intelligence although I could see where one might think that automation could do the job equally well.

son of witless

Improvements in equipment drives productivity gains. So why does that not result in less government workers ? The only conclusion is that the volume of paper pushing in government will always grow much faster than productivity.