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Comment by superuser2 | Hacker News Reader

This is a great article.

The rage of the blue-collar masses is misplaced. It belongs with engineers, STEM people, operations research, Taylorist management. Globalism isn't the architect of their fate. We are.

Want enough work to go around? Ban the last 100 years of agricultural development. That'll create all the jobs you could possibly want, real fast.

Except then you'all find out that more work to go around is a wrong thing to want.

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The rage may be misplaced, but the rage is still valid. There is basically skilled jobs and minimum wage jobs. You are saying "they're misinformed" but they are not actually incorrect. So what do you suggest we do instead of focusing on manufacturing jobs?

(I would love to suggest something, unfortunately, I have zero ideas, and not sure where to get any ideas, frankly.)

This is my favourite counter to millenials complaining about how booomers had jobs handed to them on a platter. "What, you want an unfulfilling factory job doing the same mundane thing day in, day out, probably on your feet, and probably without climate control? And if you're a woman, explicitly get paid less for it?"

The boomers may have had a higher employment rate, but they weren't design consultants and business analysts and so forth.

I've done both blue-collar, shitty industrial jobs and white-collar cushy programming jobs. If they both paid the same, I'd be very tempted to take the blue-collar job. There's something very fulfilling about working with your hands and producing something tangible. As bad as turning wrenches or pumping a grease gun can be, days of endless meetings with obtuse stakeholders or perpetual yak-shaving aren't any better.

Oh, and overtime. Sweet, sweet overtime...

Bodies break down faster than minds. Ceterus paribus an office worker will have a longer career than a factory worker because their mind will still be sharp when the factory worker has arthritis.

Strangely enough, I've heard a few people say they would have preferred a job where they do the same thing day in and day out without much variation. They say it'd be nice to not have to think about what to do when working or what not.

And for a lot of people on the autistic spectrum, a factory production line type job might actually be somewhat enjoyable and well tailored for their strengths. Doesn't require any creativity, few communication skills are required, doing the same thing for long periods of time is rewarded...

American elites are intentionally trying to drive a wedge between boomers and millenials in order to disenfranchise both demographics.

This manifests as whingy articles in the mainstream media which leads to whingy people who enjoy both agreeing and disagreeing with them.

The only way this line of argument would make any sense would be if first world countries such as Germany (which manages to keep well paid manufacturing jobs at home) didn't, well...exist.

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