Anti-Job, Pro-Freedom Quote Of The Week 17

In the past few years, robot sales have risen sharply. The 2003 World Robotics Survey, for example, showed that robot orders for the first half of 2003 were up sharply by 26% from the previous year to the highest level ever recorded. Orders for new factory robots rose 35% in North America and 25% in Europe. This increase was driven in large part by dramatically lower costs for robots, in turn driven by rapid progress in robotics technology. Robots sold in 2002 cost a fifth what they did in 1990.

Increased investment in automation technology has coincided with increased productivity, creating a growing economy with fewer jobs for humans. This past February, for example, economists predicted that the US economy would generate 130,000 jobs. It generated just 21,000. Manufacturers dropped 3,000 jobs, making it 43 consecutive job-loss months for the sector. Meanwhile, the economy grew at an annual rate of 8.2% and 4.1% respectively in the third and fourth quarters of last year. Who's doing the manufacturing? Machines.
Simon Smith,
The Jobless Generation