I saw this and love it. There are some smart people in this world.
For those of you on dial up, this is a video of the machines building or rebuilding railroad track.
About a year ago I worked a Security Guard gig watching these machines over night. I got a chance to watch them in action, it is definitely impressive. As another poster said, this is just another reason there are so few jobs these days. It's quite sad.
Does anybody stop to think about the jobs created to design,build,transport,maintain,operate, and on on this thing created. And the fact tat they are for the most part higher paying
Use to work on a small railroad in DC a while ago. Worked on the Plasser Theurer machines. Amtrack next to us, replaced the mainline tracks, wood to concrete back in the 80's. With this machine. Saw this whole thing in action. Just awesome.
Plasser Theurer is Austrian. The Europeans are way ahead of the US in railroad technology. Yes the machine machines in the picture replaced SEVERAL railroad Gangs as they were called. But those people were hired for strong backs not sharp minds. Pay was minimum. There are only a couple of these rail replacement machines in the world. They get contracted out or are bought by big railroads.
Does anybody stop to think about the jobs created to design,build,transport,maintain,operate, and on on this thing created. And the fact tat they are for the most part higher paying
I did. And I started to post just that. Then I decided those who understand don't need my post, and those who don't understand won't care/believe it.
Does anybody stop to think about the jobs created to design,build,transport,maintain,operate, and on on this thing created. And the fact tat they are for the most part higher paying
A bunch of them thats for sure.Also the number of men and man hours it eliminated in the long run thanks to computerization and its ability to do it right every time.PURE T AMAZING
It's intersting that those who whine, about the lack of jobs, in America, but either can't, or won't, put two and two together.
In 1970, there were nearly 700,000 railroad jobs. Now there is less than 200,000.
But hey, automation does create jobs for some.
If that is a valid argument, then we should all go back to the horse and buggy days, this would employ many more people. You would have more stage coach drivers, more people raising horses, more blacksmiths to shoe those horses, stables to hold those horses, many small farms to employ hands to help with the intensive labor requirements of harvest. Since it would take so many more wagons to haul the harvest to market, a loaf a bread may now cost 20 bucks instead of 3, and a steak might be 50 bucks, but so what, a lot more people are employed.
While it's true automation reduces some jobs, there are many jobs created as well. Sure the guy doing the manual labor might lose a job, and if he can't be retrained for another job he might be jobless (for a time). Progress isn't without it's problems, but I have yet to see where progress (automation) has destroyed jobs, it has only transferred jobs to other areas.
It's intersting that those who whine, about the lack of jobs, in America, but either can't, or won't, put two and two together.
In 1970, there were nearly 700,000 railroad jobs. Now there is less than 200,000.
But hey, automation does create jobs for some.
Only problem is a lot of those railroad jobs are in manufacturing rail road machines and not counted as railroad jobs. Not to mention the fact that if we hadn't give up on the RR, a point I concede and thought was wrong, there would be a lot more RR jobs. But then the govt took over the RR didn't they
How many honey dippers, carriage drivers were there in 1800. Not so much now. We should go back for their sake.
__________________ Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.
Progress isn't without it's problems, but I have yet to see where progress (automation) has destroyed jobs, it has only transferred jobs to other areas.
For example. I worked for a company where most all the welding was automated. While the company didn't hire as many welders, they had to have many people loading the parts into the machine that welded them. Not only did the company put out more product cheaper, which increased their profits and allowed the company to grow, they hired more employees then they previously had. More employees also created a bigger demand for more supervisors and such, so the automation process didn't just create manual labor jobs, it also created skilled jobs. There isn't enough room in this forum to list all the pros for every type of job.
Only problem is a lot of those railroad jobs are in manufacturing rail road machines and not counted as railroad jobs. Not to mention the fact that if we hadn't give up on the RR, a point I concede and thought was wrong, there would be a lot more RR jobs. But then the govt took over the RR didn't they
How many honey dippers, carriage drivers were there in 1800. Not so much now. We should go back for their sake.
I'm certainly not saying, that we should go back, just for the sake of jobs.
My point is that automation has been "killing" jobs in nearly every business in America, for many years.
Part of the reason, that the unemployment count has not dropped more, is because some recovering businesses, are spending for automated technology, verses hiring back laid off employees.
Some of this might be due to healthcare reform, but much of it just to compete against the rest of the world, since employees are always a large cost of running any business.
I hope that new opportunities arise, so that everyone can get a decent job.
I'm certainly not saying, that we should go back, just for the sake of jobs.
My point is that automation has been "killing" jobs in nearly every business in America, for many years.
Part of the reason, that the unemployment count has not dropped more, is because some recovering businesses, are spending for automated technology, verses hiring back laid off employees.
Some of this might be due to healthcare reform, but much of it just to compete against the rest of the world, since employees are always a large cost of running any business.
I hope that new opportunities arise, so that everyone can get a decent job.
Even now despite the crap hole we are in we have more jobs than ever. How can automation be destroying them. Maybe the problem is that we don't have as many jobs that we consider manual labor jobs.
To me it is like when computers came on line and they told us that before long there would be no more printing and paper after a while. Well that worked out well LOL. Were awash in paper.
The problem is going to be gettin people educated to take the jobs that come and are here.. I have a lot of sources that tell me they can't find people because they just aren't educated and smart enough.. way to submerged in political correctness. And after all when the libs took over the education system back at the turn of the century it was the goal just to teach enough to be good bodies but not to think for themselves.
__________________ Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.
And after all when the libs took over the education system back at the turn of the century it was the goal just to teach enough to be good bodies but not to think for themselves.
I agree.
One of the worst things they did was to take "industrial arts" out of most middle and high schools, which gave those kids, who would not be going to college, some usable real world skills.
Now those kids, now adults, know how to do nothing.
Mechanics, plumbers, skilled carpenters and yes, even some factory work, are some of the best opportunities, out there now, but many don't even know how to use a hammer..
Machines don't take breaks, stand around shooting the breeze, hold union meetings, and demand less work and more pay. If we put as much money into railroads as we put into airports, and free ways, passenger travel would be more competitive than it is now. We don't need more high speed, we need more reliability of the passenger service.
8Likes
