McJobs Threatened; Collapse of Capitalism Imminent

[Kidlicious]

Thanx to McDonalds you will soon not be able to fall back on a job at McDonalds to survive. They are implementing technology to automate each restaurant.

I guess some of you will say that people will eat that many more Big Macs.

[Sava]

Wrong Kiddo, Capitalism isn't going anywhere. After everyone loses their jobs, they will be able to afford Big Macs from the lawsuits they win from being made fat by the fast food companies.

[DinoDoc]

Collapse of Capitalism Imminent

Is this one of those cases where if you say it enough times it might actually happen?

[Japher]

Kid IS just dreamin'... Commie!

[Al B. Sure!]

there's no flipping burgers in mcdonalds... you just put them on the grill, cover them (so they cook on both sides), and the grill automatically opens when they are done. you just got to take them off and put them on a tray.

though even with this technology, you'll still need workers to prepare and wrap the sandwiches themselves.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by DinoDoc

Collapse of Capitalism Imminent

Is this one of those cases where if you say it enough times it might actually happen?

I believe it was a tongue-in-cheek remark about how the "basis" for current capitalism, low wage service industry jobs, was now in jeopardy.

[Japher]

I don't think low-wage service industry is in jeopardy, I think that there are just a lot of people out there who don't want to do the low-wage jobs that exist. If McDonalds is sick and tired of high nutrition rates (job turn over, not their food) they should automate more since it costs an arm and a leg to train someone, and let the would be employees work in the fields or sweeping streets...

[Peter Triggs]

Collapse of Capitalism Imminent

Didn't some bloke called 'Marx' say this about 150 years ago?

[:) Smiley]

There used to be lots of low wage agricultural jobs. Then new farming technology reduced the number of people needed to farm.

Then there were lots of low wage industrial jobs. Then machines reduced the number of people needed to manufacture.

Then there were lots of low wage clerical jobs. Then computers reduced the number of people needed to file papers.

Then there were lots of low wage service jobs. Now automation is reducing the number of people needed to serve.

What's next? You are going to see lots of low wage social and cultural jobs, as that is the only thing immune to being replaced by technology.

[Kropotkin]

Considering what McDonalds sell, I think it wouldn't make a difference if they made and prepared all the food in a punjabi factory with the use of child labour. After that you just ship the meals to the reasturants. But that's because it tastes like that anyhow.

The job market isn't easy for the low-skilled. It has never been though.

[Velociryx]

The interesting thing about the problem (and the thing that reds always conveniently forget), is that the whole POINT of making things is to sell them.

If no one has a job, then no one has any money.

If no one has any money, then nothing gets sold. No TV's, no DVD's, no Big Macs....nothing.

What keeps the economy going is that for every job that gets lost, other jobs get made. For every burger flipper that loses a job, there will be repairmen for the new equipment that replaces them, manufacturers of the new equipment that replaces them, and wholly new job markets opening up (think bio-tech....the market is set to explode in coming years). That is why this country has seen net gains in job creation throughout this entire process (yep, even during the 80's, when manufacturing jobs were leaving the USA in vast number, the NET jobs created in this country was still positive--meaning more jobs were created than were lost.

For as long as there are new frontiers in science, this trend will continue.

-=Vel=-

[Kropotkin]

However, the potentional problem with this development is that those that lose their job lacks the qualifications that's needed for the new jobs. Inbalance on the labour markets can be a serious problem that takes a while to fix. But that's no concern that McDonalds would have to think about.

[:) Smiley]

Though Krotpotkin raises a good point- what are low-skilled American workers gonna do? Those'll be some huge welfare rolls if something isn't done about it.

[Kropotkin]

There's quite a few jobs that's hard or even impossible to replace with machines in the forseable future. Cleaning is one such job. Then there's a growing job market of so called back office jobs, like call-centers.

[BeBMan]

Re: McJobs Threatened; Collapse of Capitalism Imminent

Originally posted by Kidicious
Thanx to McDonalds you will soon not be able to fall back on a job at McDonalds to survive. They are implementing technology to automate each restaurant.

Are they also implementing better food now?