Fox Nation: Obama Blames ATMs for High Unemployment
President Obama explained to NBC News that the reason companies aren’t hiring is not because of his policies, it’s because the economy is so automated. … “There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don’t go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate.”
Damn. Just… Damn.
I knew he was a clueless idiot, but damn.
This level of stupidity from a president is appalling.
So, those of us who opted for direct deposit are hurting the economy ’cause we’re not using the tellers to deposit our checks? Has he stood in one of those lines recently? I beat multiple levels in Angry Birds while waiting in those damn things.
Does he not realize that nearly every single man and woman serving in the military is paid via direct deposit?
I have yet another reason to cry when I see re-election stickers for him.
Awww, poor little Luddite. A machine can do your job better/cheaper than you can. Find another job, innovate, or starve.
*Sigh*…here we go again. Efficiency gains are hurting the economy? If only we had more buggy whip makers….
Next he’ll be lamenting the demise of the buggy whip.
Obamaspeak:
We are in a Depression because of Bush and greedy businesses.
Not because I’m a socialist wanker who interfered in the economy and spent more money in six months than all past Presidents combined.
“I oppose productivity-enhancing investments. In the long run, the economy would be better off if people stopped trying to increase productivity. Oh, and if they paid more in taxes, too.”
Joe the Plummer nailed this guy years ago. The fact that the media skates on past this train wreck tells you all you need to know about them.
But don’t you forget that it’s Sarah Palin who’s the dumb one. She thinks she can see Russia from her house! [rolls eyes]
Idjit… plain and simple… He doesn’t have a CLUE!
This is unbelievable. ATMs have been around for how long now? We were at FULL EMPLOYMENT for most of Bush’s term. With ATMs and the internet and everything! Does he think that he invented ATMs when he came to office or something?
Why does the MSM let that jackwagon get away with this stuff? Oh never mind, he’s their guy.
Who dumber him or those who voted for him?
I blame the sheeple in the middle…..ewwww look at that shine babble.
🙁
Josh
While I rarely agree with Pres. Obama on anything, I must admit there is a certain amount of good logic to the point he made above but only as it applies to certain areas of the economy. If you don’t see it as true or correct, then I think you are only being blinded by bias against him. I understand it is difficult not to be biased against him with his ludicrous policies and politics but truth be told I have thought likewise about automation helping destroy our workforce for many years now.
For instance, if there were no self service check out lines at my local Home depots, there would be at least 3 to 4 more people employed in each of those stores, for each shift. I wonder how many Home Depots are in the USA? They have about 1,950 just Home Depot, I am not including Expo Centers and other businesses run by them). There are at least 2 shifts in any of them. Let’s say that all Home Depots would have to have 3 more employees per shift to replace self-checkout machines x 2 shifts. That would be 6 more employees per store x 1.950 or 11,700 more employees.
Now think of, supermarkets that do the same with self-checkout lanes. What about those airport Kiosks that the president mentioned. I agree, that they do take away jobs. Please don’t try to say they create jobs. ATMs can do likewise to some degree too. while it may all seem a drop in the bucket, I would rather have those potential jobs filled by people than by machines.
The thing is, the president is once again missing the big picture. The big picture would also show him that tens of thousands of jobs, if not hundreds of thousands, are lost to out-sourcing. It would also make it obvious to him that hundreds of thousands of jobs, if not millions, are lost to us because we no longer produce things. Why, because tax rates are too high and because government regulation is too strict or simply too abundant causing businesses move out or shut down. In addition, there are no longer Customs duties, to the degree there once were, because of free trade agreements and anyone can import anything cheaper than it is made here (this gets a lot of help from unions demanding ridiculous pay and incentives for their members). There also is no longer a restriction of the US Government to buy American made products for use in official capacity. This was once the law almost across the board. want to use an item for official business, it had best be made in the USA. Of course, the restrictions on production of natural resources in the USA, such as drilling restrictions, mining restrictions, fuel restrictions, and so on – all go to destroy us economically. All the global warming and Cap&Trade bullshit is bringing us to the brink of our destruction. The same goes for government bailouts of failing companies. When companies fail, it opens opportunities for others to fill the void. If the government would rescind all the BS restrictions on businesses, many would not fail and if they did many would take their places, that is many American companies – let’s keep restrictions on foreign entities being able to operate in the USA.
When production of goods again becomes commonplace, our country will prosper. While it is part of the problem, our current economic condition is due to a lot more wrong with the economy than merely automation. When President Obama sees and admits that the problems are due to a much bigger picture than that painted by him, maybe we will again begin to do better.. Chances are though we will have to wait until he is voted out of office.
All the best,
Glenn B
Glenn B
What policies has Mr. O proposed to solve the problem: more/higher taxes. Where does the money come from to hire these people just to have them working? Business going tech instead of personal is there way of staying in business and not screw over there the employees they can keep employeed.
Sigh,
Josh
Hidden within the Anointed One’s Whining is that if we De-Automated, then there would be a lot more Jobs opening up, but the Vast Majority would go to the Union Thugs. Outfits like the UAW would receive a lot more Union Dues if you removed the robots, or the UFCW taking over the Grocery Line Check Outs. This would enable more money flowing into his Campaign, and more live bodies to overrun State Houses when they start to lose their Free Lunch.
Long disproved labor-centric socialist economic theories just don’t seem to die. Anything seems sensible when the argument is skimmed from the surface. Those ATM machines are built and maintained by an army of workers. Tellers still fill and empty the machines on a daily basis, and where there are no bank tellers, the job is subcontracted to companies which move around the money, and companies which provide the communications for transactions. There are still bank workers who have to check the transaction receipts–just because they don’t meet you in person doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The ATM is popular because it allows people to access their bank accounts anywhere, at any time, where it would be so prohibitively expensive (and personally dangerous to the employee) to employ a bank teller in each location. A bank teller booth in a convenience store?
It’s probably less expensive to pay a teller to handle transactions in person during regular work hours. I gather this is the case because people pay transaction fees at the machines, but not when they’re standing in front of a teller. But the convenience is worth the price, according to most customers, which is why they keep using ATMs, and the fees help pay for all those jobs required to build the machines, the infrastructure, and handle the transactions.
You can’t argue that jobs were lost because the didn’t exist to begin with! There were no 1 a.m. bank teller positions at every bank, yet every bank now has an ATM that is available at 1 a.m…
It’s Bush’s fault, don’t you know?
Adding self-service machines didn’t cause people to lose jobs, it just meant that customers weren’t waiting as long in lines because people with one or two items could go the the machines and get out quicker when all the checkstands were bogged down.
Glenn B:
You are arguing for the broken window fallacy.
Yes, a broken window means money for the glazier … but it is still an unpaid for loss by the business owner. Forbidding ATMs by government fiat would be a financial blow that will be passed on to customers, trust me.
By your logic, we could increase employment in the financial industry by forbidding sorting machines and electronic computers as well. Have the banks bring back sorting floors and Calculators ( employees paid to do repetitious math ).
Hell, if we go back to cuniform on clay tablets, even more people could be employed.
Glenn B:
I wasn’t going to respond at first, but then others chimed in with the same point, stated in different ways.
I find it remarkable that, essentially, I said that next Obama would lament about the demise of buggy whips….and then someone laments about the demise of the buggy whip.