Working fewer hours is going to be one of the ways to deal with jobs lost to robotics.

I don't think the oligarchs that will own the robots will see it that way.

I can't decide if these fuckers don't understand what's coming or they just don't care. Lately, I'm thinking it's both.

If they understand, they're really hiding it well. Seems like a presidential campaign would be a good time for somebody to mention that this shit is unsustainable. Maybe somebody in the question-asking business.

So.... a reddit ama?

They'd never let Bush anywhere near that kind of unpredictable forum. Just look at what happened on Twitter to Bobby Jindal and Chris Christie.

Surely someone in his camp knows to never let a Bush Brother sit near a computer unsupervised.

It was a joke, Drax ;)

So was George W. Bush. I'm still laughing over that one...

Wait- do you understand what's coming? If so, please clue me in.

Peak employment? Job loss due to technological advances in AI, automation, data mining, robotics, telepresence, and outsourcing are going to surpass job creation at an exponential level. We're already starting to see it now. Restaurant servers replaced by tablets, bank tellers replaced by video capable atms. They're destroying more jobs than they create. Some of them aren't even going to create more jobs as there's already an industry around the technology. The combination of outsourcing and tech upgrades will basically allow for a restaurant chain to "cut back" a massive percentage of their workforce and increase profits, all without creating any new jobs. We've talked about this...

Ah, OK. I thought this was going to be about how the oppressed masses are going to rise up and seize the means of production etc etc.

Lol. No what i'm guessing will happen is that a democrat president will pass a bill forcing everyone to pay private companies for mandatory employment. Fox News will call it communism and the left will staunchly defend their president saying it was the best we could expect of them given the current political atmosphere.

Joe Biden will of course just randomly appear out of nowhere to tell us, "This is a big fucking deal." :D

I would have modded that "funsightful", but I'm currently under an austerity program.

Now that i've typed it out it seems almost inevitable.

Haha, means of WHAT production? All we make anymore are apps.

...and porn.

I just took it to mean he wants to encourage full-time as opposed to part-time jobs. Which seems pretty reasonable.

I don't like the guy either, but this seems to be blowing shit out of proportion. Not an artfully phrased statement, but why not bash him for the legitimately bad ideas he has, instead of making it out like he wants to move to 70 hour work weeks?

The problem I have with his statement is manifold. Let's take a look at a list of interpretations of his statement:

- "He wants to encourage full-time employment." That's great, if he's not planning on doing so via the usual methods of busting unions, the elimination of benefits for full-time work, or doing pretty much everything people like Scott Walker has been proposing. The reason people criticize the "longer hours" thing is that to not even make ends meet, many Americans have to hold two or more part-time jobs because employers are so addicted to cheap labor, not realizing they're helping to shoot the economy in the foot.

- "He wants people who are working to work more, period." See above, since Americans are having to work more hours yet earn less than in the past.

- "He means that something is preventing people from working full-time." I'm going to take a wild stab here and guess things like "regulation" and "Obamacare" are going to be blamed, which is also BS. Again, American workers are getting less and less benefit from actually working, from pay to healthcare to regular hours to not being on call 24/7. Unless Bush is going to break with his party's line and is proposing an unheard-of GOP plan to reward workers for their time, sweat, and lives, I really doubt people are going to like his idea unless they're the class that owns third homes.

It doesn't help that he's a member of the party that most loudly wants to lower taxes for the wealthy, who have seen their tax burden drop since the 80's, if not before, while real wages for everyone else have stagnated over the same time period. I really can't see any up side to his statement without him abandoning his party's platform.

I feel like every study shows that every country works longer hours than every country. I could make some convoluted post of comparative stats but I hear so much shit especially about how over/underworked Americans are and I just deeply question the quality of stat taking in most of these stories. If I weren't just back from drinking I'd just look more closely and do some Google-fu before making a post but I am and therefore I'm making this rambling one instead.

If you have time to think about all that, you clearly don't have enough work to do.

Well, you've convinced me.

Well to be fair, a lot of stuff in the asian countries is more about being at work than working. Tons of useless meetings; not being able to leave until the boss leaves; sleeping at the office to avoid the 4 hour commute etc. There's also under-reporting of real hours.

Basically you can fudge the numbers however you want.

But you have to remember countries with massive work hours often include things like bonuses; health care; food; commute pay; after hour dinners comped etc. It's all relative methinks

Man, Bush just can't keep his feet out of his mouth, can he? Is he trying to make himself unelectable? Are the Republicans playing a game so they can pull someone out of nowhere and make him look like the Second Coming of Reagan?

This whole thing is messing with my head. Much as I love poking fun at the Republicans, I find it hard to believe that the entire party is composed of ham-fisted bumblers. It's like they're trying to force Jon Stewart to not quit.

I must be evil, I would like to see him win just to watch the world burn...

A Bush says something stupid and untrue.

What a shocker.