Jesse Jackson Jr. Blames The iPad For Killing Jobs

[CoffeeShopFrank]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5X8W7MgbhM

.........

I'm speechless.

What does this guy know about the economy?

The car companies caused the buggy manufacturers to go out of business, so if you use Jesse Jackson Jr.'s logic, we should get rid of the car companies.

People buy stuff from Amazon so they don't have to go to various stores, so I guess that means we should get rid of the entire Internet!

It's sad when we have people in the government who actually think like this.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Someone who thinks that Congress should be doing more to create jobs in the US?

What a fool he must be. Doesn't he even know the Republicans now firmly control the House? That they are far too busy cutting the taxes of the rich and giving US corporations even more ways to not pay any taxes, while creating even more jobs overseas?

 

[bombshoo]

Where did he say anything about getting rid of or banning the iPad? He is just arguing that when you are manufacturing products overseas and creating technology that replaces jobs in the USA, there is going to be more unemployed people. He never advocated that we should not use iPads, just that we need to account for these changes in technology and manufacturing when we talk about the unemployment rate and the economy. More and more jobs are becoming automated all the time and of the ones that aren't many are going overseas. You can't go on pretending the job market is the same as it was ten, twenty or thirty years ago.

 

[Ajidica]

There was more spin in the OP then at the Tilt-a-Whirl at the state fair.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Steve Jobs isn't dead yet!

Thank you very much.

 

[amadeus]

Someone who thinks that Congress should be doing more to create jobs in the US?

A dimwitted proposition in itself. Hooray for make-work!

 

[Earthling]

On the specific point about the iPad, this is really the same reason anyone defends any sort of copyright, anti-"piracy" law etc... Criticize Jackson if you want but don't be a hypocrite.

And in general economically, it's a strong point that the shift in the US away from manufacturing towards service industry and a growth in long-term unemployment are going to cause problems.

 

[Cutlass]

A dimwitted proposition in itself. Hooray for make-work!

Or maybe they could encourage business investment and do public investment rather than fight to eliminate domestic investment the way the Republicans do.

 

[amadeus]

Or maybe they could encourage business investment and do public investment

Okay, how?

...rather than fight to eliminate domestic investment the way the Republicans do.

at the GOP causing capital flight. As it makes any difference who runs this government.

 

[Cutlass]

Okay, how?

Put more money in the hands of consumers, businesses will invest to earn that money. If they don't invest it, tax is away.

at the GOP causing capital flight. As it makes any difference who runs this government.

Not as much as it should. But there is some residual giving a damn about labor and consumers in the Democratic party.

 

[CoffeeShopFrank]

There was more spin in the OP then at the Tilt-a-Whirl at the state fair.

How was I spinning anything?

 

[Ajidica]

How was I spinning anything?

You were portraying Jackson as saying that 'the iPad killed jobs', not what he actualy said which was more along the lines to 'the same production methods used in making the iPad are killing jobs'.

 

[Formaldehyde]

A dimwitted proposition in itself. Hooray for make-work!

You call trying to stimulate the creation of badly needed jobs in the US and the retention of the ones which are fleeing overseas "make-work"?

You do realize that virtually all Republican congressmen have been harping about doing exactly that for years now, while actually doing just the opposite?

Do Republicans Want to Create Jobs or Destroy Workers?

In the months leading up to the elections last November, many Republicans ran on Tea Party based platforms, their campaigns centering on the theme that they, unlike their Democrat opponents, were seeking to create jobs — something that would surely be good for the people electing them. The nation went pretty wild for this campaigning as many Republicans were swept into office. One would have to assume that since they campaigned on the promise of creating jobs, their first plans upon entry into office would have something to do with creating jobs.

Well they sure hit that job creation task hard, assuming that we live in a parallel universe where “make abortion illegal” is the same as “create jobs” — we don’t live in that universe yet and so we have to wonder in what way this focus is tantamount to creating jobs. Somehow, redefining the meaning of the word rape is a top priority to the GOP — still no jobs being created here.

Even worse, the GOP is proposing eliminating Americorps and all funding for public broadcasting. If Americorps is eliminated, this in effect destroys jobs — we’re not talking about jobs that pay as well as the CEO of Hewlett Packard but rather jobs that pay well enough for people to be able to have a place to live and feed themselves. What does AmeriCorps even do? From their web site : “Whether you are tutoring kids, building homes, clearing trails or helping to start a local health clinic you will see the direct results of your work.” Therefore the elimination of AmeriCorps does not just eliminate actual jobs but the possibility of people getting jobs in the future — whether those jobs would be at said health clinic or having a better education that would enable them to find work.

Other areas in which jobs are being destroyed — cutting the Head Start program’s budget would remove children from the program, hurting their growth and development and ultimately creating more of a problem in the future than saving a few dollars now would help fix. Cutting spending on public transit would eliminate jobs there and create more traffic, ultimately creating more pollution and putting more of a strain on the roads that would not be as well maintained thanks to cutting a billion dollars on highway spending.

In the short time that the new Congress and Senate has been on the job, they have done much but laying out any actual plans to create jobs is not one of those things. Rather, they have been focusing on destroying existing jobs and cutting spending on budget items that are far from inessential.

This is just more reactionary doublespeak.

But one thing is certain. Any congressman named Jesse Jackson Jr. is going to be a lightning rod to such absurd strawmen as this OP. I certainly expect to see far more in the future.

 

[Archbob]

Ipads are expensive enough as it is. Do you really want them to cost 3 times as much?

 

[Camikaze]

Luddite.

Scared of structural change due to technology. I mean, he's right that technology eliminates jobs...but that's just how the market works. Jobs move when it's no longer efficient. Jackson is just peddling a protectionist line based on demagogy rather than economic prosperity.

 

[Ajidica]

Ipads are expensive enough as it is. Do you really want them to cost 3 times as much?

Sure. It shows me the hipsters I should be punching as I don't have time to punch all hipsters.

You are the one who keeps going on about how people need to learn how to save more, perhaps we now need to learn about the actual costs of goods that isn't hidden up by outsourcing or rising unemployment.

This movie is relavent:

Link to video.

 

[Archbob]

You are the one who keeps going on about how people need to learn how to save more, perhaps we now need to learn about the actual costs of goods that isn't hidden up by outsourcing or rising unemployment.

Or kids these days should realize that school is important and not expect to get a good job for life with nothing except a high school degree.

The research and actual design of the Ipad produces jobs here in the US. Those jobs pay much higher than the jobs outsourced. You just need more education and skills.

 

[Quackers]

Sweet jesus I agree with Camikaze. ....

 

[Ajidica]

Or kids these days should realize that school is important and not expect to get a good job for life with nothing except a high school degree.

Perhaps if there were numerous blue-collar jobs that hadn't been sent to China or Malaysia this problem wouldn't be as severe.
Furthermore, not everyone is cut out for college whether the situation be financial for them or they lack the needed skills. Just as you have said not everyone can own a house, not everyone can go to college.

The research and actual design of the Ipad produces jobs here in the US. Those jobs pay much higher than the jobs outsourced. You just need more education and skills.

Not everyone can be a product designer. My engineering knowledge begins and ends with the Boy Scout Engineering Merit Badge. Engineering is not for the stupid and offers little recourse to those who aren't able to go to college.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It is just more remarks deliberately taken out of context:

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is taking some ribbing in the blogosphere for a rant against the job-killing iPad on the floor of the House, in contrast to his effusive praise of another Apple device as a jobs engine just last month. However, if you listen to a fuller context of his remarks, he’s actually not slamming the iPad or the iPod, but our consumer economy for not retaining a manufacturing base.

Jackson does, indeed, describe what he believes are the job-killing effects of the iPad, specifically the closings of brick-and-mortar bookstores like Borders, and on the Jims and Pams of the world (although he doesn’t mention Dunder Mifflin by name). Admittedly, the first half of the clip plays like one of those 70s future-shock rants about how robots are going to take all of our jobs, but Jackson’s real criticism is of the fact that the jobs that are going to replace the ones lost to technology are not in America.

While The Blaze points out that Apple is a net job creator in America, there’s really no way to quantify whether they create more jobs than the advancing technology kills, but that’s beside the point. Jackson isn’t railing against the march of progress, but rather, our failure to keep up.

Be sure to watch the missing 20-30 seconds of the same video at this website. There is likely much more that places his remarks into proper context. He certainly didn't sound like he was wrapping up his comments.

It is ironic that Jackson is actually echoing tea party doctrine here, yet partisan politics is causing conservatives to attack their own position.