Socialists Arise, . . .

. . . you have only your chains to lose !

Target Liberty reports as many as 5 Socialists could join Chicago's 50-man City Council this year.  The City electorate demands it.

DonDiego trusts that Chicago will avoid the fate of predecessors such as Cuba, East Germany, and Venezuela.  And if it does not, . . . well, at least under the US Constitution the disappointed citizenry can leave to other cities or States or Countries.   [Illinois is already the #2 State for population loss (ref: US News ) so it's not like earthshattering or anything.  And although Chicago is losing population, it's not losing it as fast as f'rinstance St. Louis and Detroit.  ]

And one need not fear deficit spending either, . . . Chicago is used to that.  They just raise taxes as in 2016 when the City tacked. a 29.5 percent tax onto water and sewer bills to shore up one (of several !) failing pension funds.

And whatever population remains after any intial exodus can at least expect a downturn in homicides .

Poor old DonDiego always looks at the bright side of life .

Don Diego doesn't understand the inevitability of socialism.  Poor old Don Diego is always attempting to put the cart before the horse.  It is no wonder he never gets anywhere.  Socialism will not come because of socialists being elected to government. By the time socialist politicians take over through elections, it will be because we are already a socialist country. Being a socialist will simply be a belief or trait that most politicians will have to possess in order to get elected. 

Socialism is inevitable because of ever-increasing technological advances.  Manufacturing is already highly automated and will only become more so. The trucking industry is one of the last strongholds of high paying blue collar jobs and those jobs will largely be replaced by self-driving trucks in ten to fifteen years. Many retail, service sector and even janitorial jobs are being automated or have already been automated. For example, cashiers are being replaced by self-checkout soon to be replaced by smartphone checkout,  bank tellers have already largely been displaced by ATMs, gas station attendants have been replaced by self-serve gas pumps, janitors will be largely replaced by cleaning robots.

Oh, but you say, highly trained people will always be in demand. No, they will not. For example, the need for accountants, bookkeepers and auditors has already declined and will continue to do so because of powerful computing and software that have simplified these tasks.  I suspect we are not far from the day when instead of going to the local sawbones we will go see a computer (maybe even one in our own home) that analyzes our symptoms and can analyze our blood and other biological samples to come up with a more accurate diagnosis than a physician. After it comes up with a diagnosis, it will automatically send our prescription to the automated pharmacy which will dispatch a delivery drone to drop it off on our doorstep.  

But what about future proof jobs like programming and so forth you may ask? AI will be able to code better than humans within the next ten years. I am boggled by how much it has already changed in my lifetime.

<digression>I first learned to code HTML back in the 1990s  Along the way, I picked up CSS and enough Perl, PHP and jscript to hand code the entire front end of a website. I built several over the years. After a hiatus, I am back at work learning the newest things.  What amazes me is how automated it has become.  I can remember toiling away for days in notepad hand coding every <> and </> line by line. Now in these modern text editors (Atom for example) in almost any modern programming language, all I need to do is type a couple of letters and the editor accurately completes the whole line of code. I simply plug in my variables. </digression> 

The bottom line being in 10-20 years we will reach a critical mass where there are simply not enough jobs for able-bodied educated and uneducated Americans. At what number of unemployed people will this conversion to socialism take place? When 10%, 20%, 30% or more can't find jobs? I do not know, but when we reach the tipping point expect a quick radical sea change.  People will demand and will begin receiving what people are calling universal basic income from the government. You may think this is radical leftwing hippie talk, but it is not. The people that are predicting this are the people creating the technology Google, Facebook, Uber, Microsoft and so on. 

The only alternative to socialism I see is some sort of technological review board that only allows the development, use or sale of technology after a basic question is answered.  That question isn't can we do it.  The question is should we do it?  Unless a new Luddite movement arises, our future is socialism. 

Getting where one wants to: 

Mark writes: "It is no wonder he [poor old DonDiego] never gets anywhere."

Actually DonDiego has gotten about where he wants to be.

DonDiego worked after school from 9th grade through 12th grade. 

Then DonDiego went off to college and had a job there for a bit, but quit and just "went to college" for 9 months a year.  He worked Summers in a steel plant - a big, major steel plant now abandoned and rusting.  He worked quite a few jobs necessary to keep blast furnaces operating.  He also observed the inefficiencies in the operations of a steel plant caused by unionized workers; the plant and the entire company is now bankrupt.

After graduation with an engineering degree he got a job in the defense sector.  He paid off college loans easily and on schedule.

This was interrupted when some ping-pong balls in a birdcage in Washington DC  landed DonDiego a 3-year stint in the military defending the Chesapeake Bay from wayward Vietcong. 

He returned to his civilian job.  He got a Masters Degree in Engineering along the way.  Oh and he also learned programming - in Fortran !

The best part is, . . . he retired at age 50 with a pension he could easily live on and savings and investments he still hasn't had to touch. He hasn't worked since.  

[Somewhere among all that he married, . . . twice, . . . (sequentially not contemporaneously) and remains in a martal state of bliss today.  The secong wedding was performed above the sidewalks of Las Vegas in the Stratosphere Tower.  Interested folks on LVA watched it.]

He's traveled the world on-the-ground, afloat, and in the air and, notably, has attended a home game for each NFL team; he does have to re-visit San Francisco; and he'll visit the "new" Stadia of the Rams, the Chargers, and the Raiders once they've all resettled themselves. 

So actually DonDiego pretty much got just where he wanted to get, . . . and right on time.  He is quite content. And still getting where he wants to get.

Socialism is defined as a theory of social organizationwhereby the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of capital, land, etc. in the Government.s

DonDiego could quarrel with Mark's prediction of the future, but accepting it suggests at some point people won't be necessary, and the machines will handle it all.

At that point those in authority - whether organic or metallic or digital may decide there's no point in keeping most people around at all.  They are a non-productive waste of resources.  Why even establish a Socialist distrbution system.

And maybe the family tree of of homo sapiens will cease altogether as a metallic/digital family tree takes root.

Neither Socialism nor Capitalism will be necessary.

DonDiego doubts this future.  He is nonetheless unperturbed.  He won't see it. And he cannot change it.

DonDiego wishes the best for all humanity as long as it survives, . . . but if they mess it up, . . . screw 'em.

Congrats to Dandy Don for being able to retire at the age of 50!

Mark in his depressing outlook, overlooks the historical fact that despite all the technological advances over the years, the number of people working continues to grow.  Jobs in industries that we never thought of will be created.  That's the beauty of captalism, which emphasizes innovation & why capitalist economies grow while socialist economies which discourages innovation stagnate 

Don said, Actually DonDiego has gotten about where he wants to be. 

I was talking about your political arguments, not your life story. Nonetheless, I appreciate that you shared it. 

The point I'd take from it is how difficult it would be for a young person from a poor or middle-class background to follow in your footsteps in 2019. 

They likely wouldn't be able to get a summer job that paid anywhere what you made in the steel plant adjusted for 2019 dollars. (I note even a minimum wage job circa 1968 would have allowed someone to save money for college.)  It is also unlikely that a young person from this background could pay off their student loans within a few years on the job.  It is likely if they made the decision to go to college and finished with a four engineering degree, they would be indebted to the tune of 50k-100k (maybe more) by the time they graduated.

So, no, I don't begrudge your life. I'd just suggest that you take a look at how things have changed in the last fifty or so years. I want young people to have the same opportunity that you did.   As I said in another thread, not too long ago, I tell young people and their parents that ask me about college to consider joining the trades, getting a two-year degree in something hands-on, going to a coding boot camp or as Candy suggested joining the military instead of getting a four-year year degree. In today's world, the amount of debt one has to take on to get that four-year degree is difficult to justify economically.  And I think that is a shame.  

Tom said, Mark in his depressing outlook, overlooks the historical fact that despite all the technological advances over the years, the number of people working continues to grow.  Jobs in industries that we never thought of will be created.  

Sure, Tom, the magic unicorns will create whole new industries that require vast amounts of human labor rather than computers and robots. 

And I don't think my outlook is depressing at all. I'd suggest you compare it closely to Don's.  I find his depressing.

Don said, At that point those in authority - whether organic or metallic or digital may decide there's no point in keeping most people around at all.  They are a non-productive waste of resources.  Why even establish a Socialist distrbution system.

Poor old DonDiego thanks Mark for his thoughtful comments.  

DonDiego appreciates Mark's concerns with "higher education" issues.  And surprisingly-only-to-those-unfamiliar-with-reality DonDiego agrees especilly with Mark's observation on the high-cost-of-college. 

However, DonDiego suggests the concerned citizen consider the the reason college tuition has risen so rapidly with respect to the costs of most other goods nd services.   

In a word: "Big-Government".   (DonDiego wanted to just say "government" but it is the size and scope that is the cause, so DonDiego employed a hyphen and made two words one for dramtic effect.)

In short the reason tuition has risen so rapidly is because the Government has provided the funds in the form of loans so readily, . . . and the colleges have responded by raising tuition fees because they can ! ! ! 

n. b.  The above observation is pertinent to Mark's differentiation of  poor old DonDiego's "life-story" and his "political arguments".  The latter are a result of the former.

Big Government, whether in the interest of "doing good" or in response to constutuents wishes or in cahoots with college administrators (It doesn't really matter why - what matters is Money is involved), chose to initiate a college loan program.

College Administrators recognized that raising tuition was now a lot easier; as far as they were concerned it is free-money.

Potential Students thought "What a deal !  Cheap money !"  And they took it; technically, they just transferred money from the Government to the College.  Oh, and they incurred a debt.

(n.b. The ever-growing lack of practical education in public schools undoubtedly contributes to the lack of comprehension as to the responsibility of paying one's debts.  Government is supposed to give you stuff !)  

(As poor old DonDiego recalls one of the selling points to those concerned about the students' defaulting on such debt at a cost to The Government was that the student-loan-debt could not be forgiven or otherwise discharged; the responsible student had to pay it back.  DonDiego is not particularly surprised that this absolute dictum is now being reconsidered "for the people".)

Anyway, as can only happen in the presence of Big Government, it eventually turned into a problem; and now it is a Big Expensive Problem.

A word to the wise:  "That Government is Best Which Governs Least". . . Thomas Jefferson, . . . or Henry David Thoreau, . . . or Barry Goldwater, . . . or somebody else who knows what's what. 

EDITED TO ADD

A brief explanation of the college loan exercise:

Why Has the Cost of College Skyrocketed

"DonDiego recalls one of the selling points to those concerned about the students' defaulting on such debt at a cost to The Government was that the student-loan-debt could not be forgiven or otherwise discharged; the responsible student had to pay it back.  DonDiego is not particularly surprised that this absolute dictum is now being reconsidered "for the people".)"

But that's not all. The little darlings can delay making payments.  Just apply to place loan in abayance (on hold).  After all, little darling has no income yet.  Must get a job and some income to start making those payments.   

OR...guess what...sign on for more studies, i.e. the next higher degree.  No payments are required yet!  The undergrad loan is extended increased to fund grad school.  Parents are very happy!  What a country!

Sooooo...what you're saying is college tuition is high because there is an increasing number of students going to college who need loans.     This is a true statement (partially) as a very thourough article lays out in its analysis.  Business INsider explains college inflation

I would certainly hope that people who have a problem with "Big Government" loans aren't suggesting we move to a society with significantly fewer college graduates.   The age of making a living with a high school diploma is over....and its going to get much worse for those folks as automization, AI, and outsourcing continue down the same path that has destroyed that employment sector already.    

DonDiego said it - the steel plants are closed.    HS kids wont make nearly as much money as DonDiego did working with the hrrible,  inefficient union that paid him alot more than minimum wage.   

So Raise your hand if you think sending fewer kids to college is a solution our country should pursue going forward.    Or telling kids to drive for Uber until they are 30 before sending in a college application.

   My hand is down.

Red State Tennessee's socialist solution to college inflation

The best part about is it was crafted, legislated, and signed into law by Republicans (Which means even though it is a socialist program the good citizens of Tennessee are much less constipated by it as a result) 

"You eat what you kill."   That's how I was raised.  Didn't hurt me at all.