Routers and porn

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

Almost all of the discussions I am hearing about economics and politics seems to center on the various kinds of "lever-pulling" the government can do: tax policy, money supply, interest rates, etc.

While I don't doubt that this lever-pulling has a real impact on economic activiity, it doesn't seem to me to be what the creation of wealth is really about.  We add money to the economy and stocks go up.  Big deal.  It's just an anticipation of inflation -- not the actual creation of actual value.

Conversely, we might reform healthcare and education more aggressively.  Sure.  But it doesn't help to educate people for jobs that don't exist.  And physical wellness, whether we like it or not, is a function of wealth.  Drugs would cost money even if we nationalized pharma.   

If we look back through history, in fact, we will see that wealth has always been created be actual stuff: spices and silk, slaves and cotton, war production and automobiles, highways and consumer goods, routers and porn.

So I'm wondering what it is that the U.S. economy is actually going to produce to create wealth, jobs, tax revenue and human delight.  What will a 24-year-old community college graduate living in Dayton, Ohio be doing for a living four years from now?  Anyone have any ideas?

And can anyone tell me why this is not a more central topic of discussion generally?

Comments

[redheadrat.livejournal.com]

There are dozens of professions and skill sets on BA/BS level that are not going anywhere, but where the majority of workers are earning mediocre wages, so if the future college grad wants basic stability, he can go towards one of these. Examples: nursing, clerical, technicians of all sorts, processing accountants, restaurant managers, etc.

Then there are jobs that require constant work and study from the worker. Most IT jobs fall into this category. If worker falls behind the trend, the job will be gone.

Another level up are jobs that require extensive training before doing anything. Usually coming near those jobs with a bachelor's degree is impossible. But a college student with passion can explore those routes into medicine, law, etc.

But the best jobs are the unknowns, they revolve around new trends and technologies and the workers earning their money at these jobs distinguish themselves by the ability to learn something very different fast. These kind of workers are by all means universal and often they will have completely "meaningless" degrees in stuff like philosophy or mathematics.

As to creation of wealth by widget production, it is long gone. Quality and efficiency of automated robotic labor is much higher and workers are needed to design, maintain and run the machines rather than hammer out the widgets.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, are you suggesting that IT requires more skills updating than nursing? If so, you don't understand what nurses do these days; they aren't florence nightingale anymore. Many are as qualified (in terms of time and effort invested) as doctors. The medical field changes just as quickly as the information technology field, given how interwoven they are.

[redheadrat.livejournal.com]

What I mean is that majority of nurses do a specific task and are assigned stuff to learn as it gets implemented. The cycle of learning for progressive IT is much more compressed.

PS: surgical nurses and nurse practitioners fall much closer to the doctors' levels and usually require advanced degrees and certifications