Ever hear of Eli Whitney? Nearly every school kid has heard of him regardless of whether they remember or not. El invented the cotton gin way back in 1794.
This was before Napolean met his Waterloo. This was before Lewis and Clark set out westward and eventually came upon the Pacific Ocean.
The cotton gin totally REVOLUTIONIZED the industry. It saved hundreds and hundreds of man-hours in the process of separating the cotton seed from the rest of the fiber.
The same sort of thing is happening over and over again in the U.S. Technology introduces new processes, companies lay off workers and company profits soar. This is sometimes considered "bad" because workers get laid off. And bitterness grows because companies are profiting all the while workers are getting laid off.
But some people forget that new technology usually creates more demand for OTHER workers. And as company profits continue to soar, this attracts other entrepreneurs. New entrepreneurs strive to beat the competition and new technologies arise with more layoffs but new waves of hiring begin over and over again.
This is why our economy is essentially strong. It is this division of labor that is ever increasing and it continuously creates an ever deeper and diversified fabric in the make up of our economy.
There are draw backs to all this profiting and the draw backs are the focus of some individuals.Here is what is really going on.
The workforce cannot keep up with this demand for newer and newer skills. Thus, those who fail to improve their skills fall behind; and those who continue to improve their skills reap more and more.
It is not GREED that is causing this rift between the "haves" and the "have nots". It is the workforce being unable to tune in and adapt to a growing and more greatly diversified economy.
So, what is the answer to a workforce that is ill-equipped to keep up with things? Do you have the government outlaw new inventions? Do you penalize those companies that become more productive whereby they no longer need such a large workforce? Do you start taxing these successful companies more and more to "spread the wealth around"? Does the government tell companies to "tone it down" -do well but don't make too much money. Should we have a regulated economy like Russia used to have or what China has? Or should we have companies focus on retraining the workforce in a better, more efficient way?
Come on America!!! Tell me - what is the solution?
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