The great American middle class 'used' to be the wealthiest in the world and made by the after metrics of WWII...unions, Gi bills (housing loans, student loans...higher education that only the upper class were privileged to have), explosion of automotive everything to spawn suburbia...etc
We are now second to Canada's middle class in terms of wealth and sinking to be 3rd soon to China...whom we paid them to become via out outsourcing of manufacturing and design...
With the public deman for the 'cheapest products at any cost'....management...not the government outsourced production off shore...forced the government to sign treaties that made it easier for corporate exec's to outsource even more...up to design...teaching them to become our peers in both 'middle class' and design (smarts)
Nay sayer's, do a search on American class wealth vs Canada. It now documented and official...the American Class is no longer the top middle class of the world
Automation is part of that, as foreign countries adopted factory automation earlier and in total before American exec's. My first couple careers were in robotics, factory automation, process control, AI, etc...NONE of my customers were government...even stuff or the military...prime contractors were our customers and lucky they chose an American firm (we were small and bid low just to get the business)
Here is a link to leading technologists who warn against AI....
Open Letter on Artificial Intelligence, of which agree whole heartedly
My largest automated factory was for US Steel in Alabama...put over 4,000 out of work directly and indirectly 2x or more.
Part of the contract had the Prime Contractor and us 2nd/3rd contractors teach those kept HOW2 maintain and run the largest mobile robots in the world and some of the largest stationary robots in the world...
Strange to see little old grand mothers operating these robots while wearing hard hats....they were unionized decades ago and were higher on the seniority list...so they got the 'new' tech based jobs.
Many of the young bucks refused to take our free training classes and decided best to take unemployment...
My best hires were the young guys who understood the need to change and most became supervisors of the crews left to operate and maintain the computers. Sensors took the most maintenance and last heard...their exec's were cutting budgeting in that area...while their competitors in China/Italiy/etc were NOT...I blame corporate Exec's for most of the issues of this discussion topic...
