Automation replacing workers

[redraspberry]

With the low interest available to business is the FED providing to employers a means to replace their workers with the cheap money? Isn't this against the FEDs own employment drivers?

Is The Fed Helping Robots Find Jobs?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-0...bots-find-jobs

Rise of the Robots

“Robots are taking over,” says a friend.
“They began by doing the simplest, lowest wage jobs. But they were competing with very low-paid workers. So employers wouldn’t pay much for them. But now they’re getting a lot more sophisticated. This is where it gets interesting.”

“When you buy a robot to replace a human employee, what you’re really doing is capitalizing the cost of the employee. Let’s say an employee earns $50,000 a year. You have to figure that you spend another $25,000 a year on benefits, a personnel office, lawsuits, counseling, management issues, health care, holidays, a desk, a phone. So you have a total cost of $75,000. And he’s working only eight hours a day, five days a week.

“In a normal world, with a cost of capital at 5%, and an amortization period of 10 years for the robot, you could afford to spend about half a million (I’m not doing the math. I’m just guessing).

“But here’s the point: As you go up the income ladder, you can spend a lot more. If you can replace a guy who earns $100,000 a year, you can pay $1 million… and so forth.”

Dumping Workers

As robots get more sophisticated, it’s a matter of time until most people who do routine and not-so-routine work will be replaced. Robots don’t complain when they get pinched on the derriere by a frisky manager.
They work nights without grumbling or overtime. They don’t call in sick. They don’t care if there’s a home game. They don’t make excuses when they run over an elderly blind woman with the company truck.
“And guess what?” continued our friend.

“The feds say they are stimulating the economy and aiding employment with their ultra-low rates. But what they’re really doing is helping robots find jobs.

“As the cost of capital goes down, the relative cost of capital, as opposed to labor, also goes down. You can’t capitalize an employee. At least, not since slavery was abolished.

[redraspberry]

A Perth company has developed a robot that's being described as a game-changer for the building industry.
The world-first machine lays bricks with laser precision and can build a home's walls in just two days



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq0A1JU77Es

[Chump Change]

Domo Arigato

[everything1]

Also in Australia they are automating the engineers that drive trains. It's only a matter of time before Google and/or Tesla are going to be taxi cab companies. Once we can get robots to mine the metal, grow and cook our food, wipe our asses, and robots building robots we will have her made in the shade.

[t00nces2]

I need a robot to bring me my beer without complaining that beer is making me fat.... Oh yeah, and open too.

[redraspberry]

Seems it is not just the bottom level workers loosing out as McDonald's automates. Franchise owners are being driven out due to upgrade cost.

McDonald’s Is Pushing Out the Small Fries

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/mcdonald-s-is-pushing-out-the-small-fries



After more than three decades of operating McDonald’s restaurants, Ted Lezotte in 2015 sold the last of his six stores in Michigan. Lezotte says looming costly remodeling—one rebuild was estimated at $1.9 million—helped spur his decision. “In today’s financial world, it’s becoming necessary to have more than a couple [of stores] to survive,” he says. The chain is looking for franchisees who have 8 to 10 locations, he says: “Ten kind of gives you a good footing” in case one isn’t doing so well. Of his six stores, one was closed, the rest sold to larger McDonald’s operators.

[captainsilverton]

Seems it is not just the bottom level workers loosing out as McDonald's automates. Franchise owners are being driven out due to upgrade cost.

McDonald’s Is Pushing Out the Small Fries

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/mcdonald-s-is-pushing-out-the-small-fries



After more than three decades of operating McDonald’s restaurants, Ted Lezotte in 2015 sold the last of his six stores in Michigan. Lezotte says looming costly remodeling—one rebuild was estimated at $1.9 million—helped spur his decision. “In today’s financial world, it’s becoming necessary to have more than a couple [of stores] to survive,” he says. The chain is looking for franchisees who have 8 to 10 locations, he says: “Ten kind of gives you a good footing” in case one isn’t doing so well. Of his six stores, one was closed, the rest sold to larger McDonald’s operators.

i have a close friend that also opened, owned 4 Mc'Donalds, starting in the early 2000's when they were young and just married, they used bequeathed monies...thought they would be millionaires, that did not happen and he aged quite a bit if ya ask me, stress!!.....sold out in 2012-2014....

now they have retired and opened up at last count, 4 maidPro franchises, he said he worked his arse off with the Mc'Donalds, constant work, constant issue, with help and monies, and the new franchises are a dream, at least 1.5 years into it or so for he and his wife... the plan is to pass on to their kids...he and his wife are 47 years old each... kids now 17 and 21, no college, gonna run the franchises...as always i wish them well.... They are in FLA and with aged folks, the clientele and potential is very good...

i never was one to think of owning any franchise....to rogue and independent i suppose..

[redraspberry]

Exclusive: Wells Fargo to unveil robo-adviser partnership with SigFig

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/exclusive-wells-fargo-unveil-robo-adviser-partnership-sigfig-152735516--finance.html

Wells Fargo & Co is set to announce a partnership with SigFig for clients to use the robo-adviser's technology and wealth management investment tools.The announcement is expected on Tuesday, the bank said, with Wells likely to roll out a pilot version of the service during the first half of 2017.
"As we continue to invest in technology that serves the evolving needs of our clients and our advisors, this offering will mark an important step forward in delivering financial advice to the next generation of investors, while building a long-term pipeline for our full-service business," said David Carroll, head of wealth and investment management at Wells Fargo.
Wall Street banks and investment firms are increasingly building or buying robo-advisers to provide automated investment advice through web-based platforms at a lower cost than traditional financial advisers.

[redraspberry]

Retail stores with no checkouts. Automation taking retail.

Rise Of The Machines: Millions Of American Jobs Will Be Wiped Out In The Next Five Years

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-07/rise-machines-millions-american-jobs-will-be-wiped-out-next-five-years

Earlier this week Amazon launched its first Amazon Go store, which allows a customer to walk in, grab the items they want, and simply walk out. Everything is tracked utilizing RFID chips, so the second you step out of the store Amazon knows exactly what you’ve purchased and automatically charges your account:

Amazon Go is a system that marries physical stores with advanced algorithms and sensors to eliminate the need for a typical store checkout. Instead of packing all the things you need into a basket or cart and then dragged it through a tedious checkout process, you just grab whatever you need and walk out of the store.

It sounds like a shaky concept at first, but only until you see just how advanced the technology really is. When you first walk into the store, you use your smartphone to open you virtual shopping cart. As you make your way around the store, a vast system of sensor tracks where you are, what you pick up, and what you take with you. The system even knows if you pick something up and then put it back, and will only charge you for things you actually intended to buy.

Amazon’s latest move is simply the next evolution designed to make human labor obsolete.
As Mike Shedlock recently pointed out at Mish Talk, the transition to automated systems like Amazon Go, as well as technologies like self-driving cars and long-haul trucks, has been fast tracked.


We’re no longer talking decades, but rather, a few years before we start to see the direct effects on the labor market:
Once again competition is the driving force that will guarantee

[Ryanferr]

I agree, Red. When you look at the numbers, automation is by far the largest contributor to reductions in manufacturing jobs, not trade. It is one reason why I am not opposed to trade and globalization like many here.