One of Hitler’s favorite expressions was the “battle for work,” indicating the totality of effort needed by the German people to compete in a global marketplace. Unemployment in Germany was 0% from 1937 until the end of the war. Every able-bodied person – women included – worked full time.
The expression “Luddite” refers to textile workers in Amsterdam circa 1817 who destroyed all the newfangled weaving machines that had put thousands of weavers out of work.
Assembly Line America
The early Ford motor company assembly lines were so incredibly boring to workers that the turnover rate was close to 100% a month, no matter how high the wages or how desperate people were for work. Most people would be quite content in those exact same jobs now; which tells you just how much human beings have de-evolved.
People’s tolerance for boredom is much higher now – maybe because there are so many distractions after work – or perhaps because workers are just less sophisticated.
Obama just announced a plan to rank all US colleges and to reward those who help “disadvantaged” students the most with better federal student loan rates. That is, students attending colleges with lower academic standards will get more money.
Fast Food America
The breakthrough that put McDonald’s on the map 50 years ago was the restaurant assembly line. Old Man McDonald (1) automated the whole cooking process, (2) pre-cooked as much as they could beforehand, and (3) eliminated the old “fast order cook” job description. The whole process was so automated that workers could become experts in a few days, instead of years.
McDonald’s has perfected the process to the point where some of their new restaurants in China are fully automated – no people – every item is pre-cooked assembly-line style.
Reality Check
At what point do we stop this worship of technology and profit and start thinking about good jobs for hard-working people?
Why is the system rigged now to dumb down people on a global scale, so they’re happy with the most numbingly dull tasks?
The Nazi work camps were heaven compared to McDonald’s – slaves with dignity or slaves with no brain – take your choice. Can I biggie size that for you, sir?