An interesting article I wrote on the reality of the current system.

NAS15840 said:

The idea that a small group of people should work, design, create and invest their time, energy, personal wealth and ability into a system that allows the vast majority to sit around doing nothing is insane, that’s not a country I want to live in. I don’t resent the successful, I strive to work as hard and as smart as they have to reach the best outcome.

In my museum of electrical products I have a Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machine. It is a classic example of how the microprocessor put large numbers of people out of work by enabling bus drivers to issue tickets without a bus conductor. The number of people in the new jobs of designing, developing, and even manufacturing Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machines (they were made in Britain) is far fewer than the number of bus conductors who have been made redundant because of them.

When disruptive technologies are created then it raises the question of what to do with large numbers of redundant bus conductors. Automation on buses in Britain has taken hold but in many other countries bus companies still employ conductors issuing tickets using archaic machines similar to those used in Britain in the 1950s. It is inevitable that they will use microprocessor controlled ticket machines in the future and their bus conductors will also be made redundant.

Bus conductors (in Britain at least) pay income tax but no Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machine has ever paid a penny in income tax.

It is a very naive view to assume that there will always be enough paid employment to go round, or that new jobs created will replace old jobs lost in a 1:1 ratio, when disruptive technologies that make workers redundant advance at a rapid pace.

The economies of the US, Canada, and much of western Europe have experienced a phenomenon known as stagflation for most of the time since 1970 which roughly corresponds to the time when automation began to make inroads into commerce and industry.

NAS15840 said:

The idea that a small group of people should work, design, create and invest their time, energy, personal wealth and ability into a system that allows the vast majority to sit around doing nothing is insane, that’s not a country I want to live in. I don’t resent the successful, I strive to work as hard and as smart as they have to reach the best outcome.

In my museum of electrical products I have a Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machine. It is a classic example of how the microprocessor put large numbers of people out of work by enabling bus drivers to issue tickets without a bus conductor. The number of people in the new jobs of designing, developing, and even manufacturing Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machines (they were made in Britain) is far fewer than the number of bus conductors who have been made redundant because of them.

When disruptive technologies are created then it raises the question of what to do with large numbers of redundant bus conductors. Automation on buses in Britain has taken hold but in many other countries bus companies still employ conductors issuing tickets using archaic machines similar to those used in Britain in the 1950s. It is inevitable that they will use microprocessor controlled ticket machines in the future and their bus conductors will also be made redundant.

Bus conductors (in Britain at least) pay income tax but no Wayfarer 2 bus ticket machine has ever paid a penny in income tax.

It is a very naive view to assume that there will always be enough paid employment to go round, or that new jobs created will replace old jobs lost in a 1:1 ratio, when disruptive technologies that make workers redundant advance at a rapid pace.

The economies of the US, Canada, and much of western Europe have experienced a phenomenon known as stagflation for most of the time since 1970 which roughly corresponds to the time when automation began to make inroads into commerce and industry.