Are robots or Mexicans to blame for U.S. job losses?
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:22 am
CBS Money Watch - 2/21/2017 - Larry Light - The vanishing of those fabled factory jobs that once lifted so many blue-collar Americans into the middle class is a tragedy. President Donald Trump rode malaise over this sorry situation to victory -- and he has put the issue front and center by pledging to turn U.S. manufacturing’s fortunes around. To do so, his administration will need to answer the central question regarding the decline of manufacturing: What is primarily to blame for fading factory employment? Is it mostly the siren song of inexpensive labor that enticed American companies to ship jobs to countries like China and Mexico, and American consumers to buy cheaper foreign imports? Or is the bigger culprit automation, which has been replacing human hands with technology at least since the Industrial Revolution, and even before? Read more @ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-robots- ... ob-losses/