September 28, 2016
Minority & Small Business Week
O PINION
Page 19
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Thrown Under the Automated Bus
r ivera s un
Automation isn’t
coming. It’s here. At
the airport, the pub-
lic library, the gro-
cery store, and doz-
ens of other places, touch screens
are rapidly replacing human bodies,
especially in basic service industry
positions. In a time when service in-
dustry jobs represent 80 percent of
all employment in the United States,
and when a presidential report on
automation looks at the frightening
possibility of more than half the
jobs in the country being lost, one
could reasonably expect the cur-
rent presidential and congressional
candidates to be putting forth bold
strategies for addressing the rising
economic crisis and skyrocketing
unemployment rates for middle and
working class families.
We can praise the timesaving
efficiency of automation, but we
must also deal with the unintended
consequences. The potential of au-
tomation comes with a shadow side,
which must be rigorously discussed
and addressed in our nation and
around the world.
People will be replaced by
machines. Profits for the already
wealthy will soar. Millions of
Americans will be left without
jobs. At this point, our nation has
no comprehensive transition plan.
There is marginal lip service being
paid to “retraining programs” and
“jobs fairs,” but the scale of these
by
proposals is like trying to plug Ni-
agara Falls with a toothpick. Busi-
ness journals tout the creation of
new jobs in automation design and
maintenance, but it is uncertain as to
how many jobs will be created, and
for how long. The shift into automa-
tion requires not reckless enthusi-
asm, but rather, proactive planning
from both the business and political
sectors.
We are told that the economy has
recovered from the 2008 crash. The
average American feels the daily
pinch of the truth: we have seen no
recovery. Ninety-five percent of the
income gains went straight into the
pockets of the One Percent. The rest
of us are still swamped with debt,
struggling desperately to pay bills,
and at risk of financial catastrophe
caused by unexpected expenses no
larger than a failing car engine or a
broken bone. We have no economic
safety nets or savings to fall back
on.
The elections loom large on the
horizon of our nation. The circus
of the presidential race overshad-
ows the congressional races - but
it is the make-up of the legislature
that will - or will not - place a wide
variety of economic policies on the
political table. Bills about widening
the social safety net, implementing
basic income, taxing the rich, clos-
ing loopholes that benefit mega-cor-
porations and the super-wealthy,
addressing student debt, stopping
unfair corporate trade deals, and
raising the minimum wage to a liv-
ing wage must be considered. It is
the make-up of the legislature that
will determine whether or not an
adequate response to the economic
upheaval of rising automation will
be proposed, debated, and passed.
We have been brought to the
brink of an unsuspected revolu-
tion, arriving full circle to a parallel
moment in history to the Industrial
Revolution. Widespread automa-
tion demands that we once again en-
gage in a global and national moral
debate about both the meaning of
work and the purpose of the econo-
my. Is the purpose of our economy
merely to provide profits for a few
people or is our economy meant to
care for the populace and provide
for everyone’s needs?
With the mechanization of the In-
dustrial Revolution, humanity was
asked to grapple a seemingly simple
question: what do we do with the
free time provided by the efficiency
of machines? Then, like today, the
ruling elite was politically poised to
answer the question with a solution
that was highly profitable for them:
work harder, produce more, make
more money for us.
This time, the nature of the ques-
tion has expanded. Does the ruling
elite (the owning class - the rich
people) have a moral and social re-
sponsibility to provide for the needs
of the people while their businesses
automate and cause widespread un-
employment?
It is a political question, and an
ethical, moral, and social question.
What is the responsibility of the
rich and powerful toward the rest
of us? Are we - the workers, in-
ventors, artists, teachers, mothers
and fathers and children - merely
convenient sources of ultimately
disposable labor to them? Should
corporations, owners, and the cur-
rent crop of corporate politicians be
allowed to throw us out when ma-
chines become more profitable than
our bodies? What will they do when
unemployment skyrockets, families
can’t pay rents or mortgages, home-
lessness becomes endemic, and the
United States consumer class van-
ishes? What actions will these po-
litical candidates take . . . will they
simply pocket the profits of automa-
tion and start selling goods to Chi-
na? Or will they demonstrate that
they have the political backbone to
do what’s right for the people and
address the systemic crisis that has
arrived on our doorstep?
We are on the verge of being
thrown under the automated bus.
Make your choices carefully this
November; this election cycle deter-
mines what measures the next crop
of politicians will take to keep us all
from being run over.
Author/Activist Rivera Sun, syn-
dicated by PeaceVoice, is the au-
thor of The Dandelion Insurrection
and other books, and the Programs
Coordinator for Campaign Nonvio-
lence.
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