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As Robots Eat Our Jobs, Fed Should 'Drop the Money From Helicopters,' Says Bill Gross (janus.com)
As technology continues to change the world -- and kill many jobs -- it may soon change the very nature of what is considered work, said Bill Gross, a renowned American financial manager in his recently released investment outlook. Gross says that in a year or so we will need to start guaranteeing income for everyone. Gross, added that the current crop of national leaders is hopelessly behind the curve, leaving it to central bankers to fix the mess. "Our economy has changed, but voters and their elected representatives don't seem to know what's really wrong," he writes. "They shout: (1) build a wall, (2) balance the budget, (3) foot the bill for college, or (4) make free trade less free. "That will fix it" they discordantly proclaim, and after November's election some unlucky soul may do one or more of the above in an effort to make things better. Similar battles are being fought everywhere." The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Central bank "helicopter money" will avoid a long recession that looms as millions of millennials face losing their jobs to robot technology, Gross says. In news that is sure to depress anyone under the age of 30, Gross says that while presidential hopefuls in the US spout mantras about how they are going to spur growth, none are addressing the reality of the future: that robots and technology are going to render "millions" of jobs redundant. "Virtually every industry in existence is likely to become less labour-intensive in future years as new technology is assimilated into existing business models," Gross writes. Transport is a visible example of this transition and millions of truck and taxi drivers will be out of a job in the next 10 to 15 years due to driverless vehicles, he says. "We should spend money where it's needed most -- our collapsing infrastructure for instance, health care for an aging generation and perhaps on a revolutionary new idea called UBI -- Universal Basic Income."
I'm really sick to death of these idiots saying that hamfisted intervention in the economy (like shitting out trillions of magic rubber inflatobucks from the fed) can produce good results.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Judging from the mlillenial snot here in SV, they will be deserving of everything they get. What a bunch of entitled little pricks
It used to be that 'workforce productivity' was a major metric in macro economics.
From a very high-level view, if you replace a worker over here, you can free them up to do something over there.
The lag time, of course, might be inconvenient. But the only reason a UBI makes sense is if we run out of productive work to do, and for socialists, that is a very low bar (everybody except the 'elite' political party members has equally (bad) food, education, and healthcare).
In a capitalist system, we, en masse, should just be reaping the rewards of total higher productivity: cheaper necessities, cheaper luxuries, and less physical labor in return for more intellectual labor.