Even at our most dismal worse, unemployment in the US is consistently one of the lowest in the world. What is the alternative? We do not evolve? We do not seek new, more innovative ways to run a society. Would it be better if we didn't have computers and have to get in our cars every day every time we need or want a book or a faucet filter?
I think that as politicians/leaders, you have to look at both sides of the equation a bit. Sure, it's easy to hop on to the "train of progress" and adopt a very Darwinian stance regarding technological evolution, but you have to ask at what cost and to what end?
This isn't the time of horses simply being replaced with cars. Many of these small to medium sized businesses employ a large amount of New York'ers (Americans) that are older than 55yrs of age and they can't just pick up and learn a new craft. Many of them already live paycheck to paycheck. Most of them can't go on unemployment and simply start going to school again in the hopes of attaining a potentially useful degree. Why not? Because if they do, they simply get evicted for not making ends meet. It's not the white collar folk losing jobs that concern me, it's the poor, lower class.
The owners of the businesses will be fine and can easily invest their money into another venture, but it's the displaced workforce that is concerning. They lose jobs, unemployment rises and welfare costs increase equaling higher taxes. Things don't just get better with evolving technology. Over time, we can see great things happen, but it's the initial hit that concerns politicians and what this means to their voter base.
I provide accounting services for many of the same small to medium sized businesses that have been put out of business by companies like Amazon. It's a terrible thing to see when all of those employees need to be laid off. For the young ones <45yrs of age, they survive, but many of the older ones >55yrs of age are seriously fucked. It throws off their already thin margins used to survive in a very expensive city like NY. A smart person will always find ways to evolve and reinvent themselves, but sooner or later, when it's technology knocking at your door and asking for your full time job, you might also sing a different tune.
Do I have the answer? Of course not. But clearly the politicians and economists that run New York City figured this was not a good idea, so maybe, just maybe, they are on to something.
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