The End of Labor as We Know It

Machines have displaced workers and society is adjusting poorly. It really is that simple.

College graduates, saddled with debt that keeps them compliantly on society’s treadmill, are learning what their less-educated peers already know: The world really doesn’t need you anymore.

Sure, you read the figures that college graduates, on average, earn more than those with no education,  but the whole premise is based on past earning figures. If past trends continue, no problem, but will they? Wake up and smell yourself.

Even though mega-corporations are earning unprecedented profits, we have one of the lowest levels of employment, yet unemployment nationally is said to be around 5%. There is clear evidence that the statistics have been manipulated and people have ‘statistically’ dropped out of the workforce in droves, with many of those remaining working at more menial jobs.

People are working, but they are now working in lesser paid jobs and many have been removed from the workforce (quietly). A displaced working society is far more reliant upon government for benefits, and, in turn for guidance and direction.

Society puts more people in the cottage industry of prison (we have one of the largest prison populations – and we are living in a ‘free’ country), and then politicians and social scientists talk about how prison is a disability in getting a job – a job that really doesn’t exist, anyway.

Increased numbers of folks are on disability (warranted or not) to keep them out of the workforce (and off the official numbers on unemployment) until they reach retirement age.

People are told they need education (to keep them out of the workforce for four or more years of their prime working age), only to pull the rug out when they actually enter the workforce.

We have embraced the concept of war for prosperity, keeping people out of the workforce by continually feeding the military industrial complex (which, ironically, has grown more and more mechanized).

We have created, via government regulation, countless government jobs that are largely unnecessary unless we enact more government regulations for the government employees to monitor.

In short, our leaders have screwed us out of having the dignity of a productive society with goals and motivation. We have been shortchanged, if not robbed.

Automated societies are really only a new version of rich versus poor. Without true employment opportunities, there is probably as much chance of transcending class as it is to win the lottery, which is also government-sponsored.

Sounds Marxist, doesn’t it? The owners of the means of production get rich on the backs of the increasingly larger pool of prospective low-cost labor.

Workers will never be completely eliminated, but workers will become quite rare in our lifetime, barring a complete breakdown of society.

It is almost un-American to think that we are a power in decline. We get rah-rah speeches from politicians and we really, really, really want to believe. But to completely ignore trends is to blindly go unprepared into a disaster.

The loss of labor is a harbinger of impending doom. Everyone will have more time on their hands, and we know that idle hands to the devil’s deeds (and an increase in prison populations). The societal impact of no labor has yet to be fully exhibited.

Government, however, seems to have prepared itself for this inevitability by forcing more and more people into its paternal care, but this may not be enough to hold down angry masses (although it is comforting to know that poor people are the least likely to organize resistance if they are given bread and circuses).

Keeping the educated in check by way of un-dischargeable student loans means there will be a boot on their neck until they are outside the age that is most likely to ferment revolution. Conspiracy?

To those who actually find a job, thank you. You will be supporting overwhelming government debt, millions of Baby Boomers in retirement, and just about everyone who is ‘protected’ by government.  Perhaps the best advice is, “Screw it, drop out of school and deal crack.”

Never forget the immortal words of John Henry, “…I’ll beat you to the bottom or die.” Get out your hammer and start banging in your own futile effort against the steam drill of governmental paternalism that portends the death of labor and the end of personal liberty.