tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post1138959204302887734..comments2024-01-04T07:05:27.381-06:00Comments on Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Michigan´s Conflicting Economic Story: Losing Auto & Manufacturing "Union Pay Scale" Jobs; Workers leave State vs taking Low Wage Jobs!Deehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09583438645860375661noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-67000851889760704492008-01-31T16:32:00.000-06:002008-01-31T16:32:00.000-06:00Something to note about Robert Woods is he is only...Something to note about Robert Woods is he is only 48 years old and still pulls down a $31,200 pension, and I bet that pension has inflation adjusted increases.<BR/><BR/>What's so unusual about that? I'll tell you. I don't know of any other places that would pay that kind of pension to a 48 year old other than the armed forces. Those companies that even offer pensions do not offer them to people under 55 years of age. I'm not sure about the US government jobs. I worked for a major drug company for 26 years in an executive position and retired EARLY at 55. My pension is just about the same as Robert Woods and I'm damn glad to get it. I didn't contribute to the pension so that may be diff than his plan. I also own my house and pay all my bills every month and have a 401 K to tap when I need it.<BR/><BR/>In short, I don't feel one bit sorry for this guy. As far as I'm concerned, he's on the gravy train, he's young enough to get another job to subsidize him pension and if he feels like he has to move, then do it. No boo hooing from me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-4831212610945593912008-01-31T10:45:00.000-06:002008-01-31T10:45:00.000-06:00I was re reading the newsweek article I provided i...I was re reading the newsweek article I provided in this post. The out of work auto worker, Robert Woods, says it is hard to make ends meet on his $2600 monthly pension. I was thinking about this. If he made $14 an hour, which is the new GM salary, after taxes, he would only bring home about $400 a week. That is $1600 a month. That is $1000 less than he would make just on his pension. He talks about not wanting to work at McDonalds. McDonalds pays $7 per hour, half of the $14.<BR/><BR/>As an auto worker he was probably bringing home $5000 a month, plus benefits. He probably lives in a $2000 a month house financed with an ARM, interest only mortgage, the home loaded with all the toys (cable, internet, PCs, TVs, cellphones, cars) paid for by credit cards and other credit-loans... you know, like the rest of us. He may have been living month to month with little savings and now the $2600 doesn´t cut it. That is why he is moving out of state, like many workers, to find another big salary job and possibly defaulting on his mortgage. <BR/><BR/>The question is, will he find another big salary job? With the manufacturing jobs leaving the country, this is not likely.<BR/><BR/>What is clear is, the UAWs strong arming helped the autoworkers earn exorbitant pay and benefits, resulting in GM´s exorbitant costs. They could not compete without cutting wages and benefits. The workers, however, now expect that type of pay and lifestyle, as do we all. That is our country´s current dilemma.<BR/><BR/>From the Newsweek <A HREF="http://www.newsweek.com/id/105843" REL="nofollow">article</A>:<BR/>Robert Woods went to work in an auto factory straight out of high school and spent nearly three decades making steering gears in Saginaw, Mich. But when his employer, Delphi Corp. went bankrupt in 2005, Woods was downsized out of a job. He didn't get the big buyout bonus other autoworkers received because he didn't have enough seniority. And now, only 48 years old and with three school-aged children, he's finding it hard to make ends meet on his $2,600 monthly pension. The former machinist is looking for work, but there's nothing available that pays like his old factory job. "It's been devastating around here," Woods says. "I don't want to work at McDonald's, but it's just terrible to try to find anything. The American dream has been taken away."Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09583438645860375661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-5513397344717369922008-01-31T10:25:00.000-06:002008-01-31T10:25:00.000-06:00I know most countries are investing in automation....I know most countries are investing in automation. I talked to the farm owner last year of the farm where I worked as a migrant laborer as a child. They are using more tree shakers and automation for cherry picking and other farming, but they still have a need for Ag-workers. <BR/><BR/>I think the point in Michigan is, they are losing American auto workers because GM has cut their wages. They still suffer from labor shortages in jobs Americans do not want to do.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09583438645860375661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-84838539650955018682008-01-30T21:18:00.000-06:002008-01-30T21:18:00.000-06:00japan has built tons of robots that is why their e...japan has built tons of robots that is why their economy can grow per capital GDP <BR/><BR/>TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese-led research team said it had made a seeing, hearing and smelling robot that can carry human beings and is aimed at helping care for the country’s growing number of elderly.<BR/><BR/>Government-backed research institute Riken said the 158-centimeter (five-foot) RI-MAN humanoid can already carry a doll weighing 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and could be capable of bearing 70 kilograms within five years.<BR/>Aging Japan builds robot to look after elderly - Yahoo! News<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Fingernail Painting Machine<BR/>November 26th, 2003<BR/>I was out with my friend Lulu and we saw this crazy fingernail painting machine so I just had to try it out.<BR/><BR/> <BR/> <BR/> <BR/> <BR/><BR/>It was a little scary at first because you stick your finger in it. I expected some printer head to come by and spray the pattern on my finger like an ink jet printer and I could imagine it messing up and shredding my finger but of course if that was the case the machine wouldn't be out.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Japan: <BR/><BR/>Japan Seeks Robotic Help in Caring for the Aged<BR/><BR/>By James Brooke, the New York Times<BR/><BR/>March 5, 2004 <BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>Toshiko Shibahara in the new human washing machine. "The temperature is just right — the bubbles are really comfortable," she said.<BR/><BR/>MACHIDA, Japan- With an electronic whir, the machine released a dollop of "peach body shampoo," a kind of body wash. Then, as the cleansing bubbling action kicked in, Toshiko Shibahara, 89, settled back to enjoy the wash and soak cycle of her nursing home's new human washing machine.<BR/><BR/>"The temperature is just right — the bubbles are really comfortable," she said, happily sealed up to her neck inside the Sanyo Electric Company's latest elder care product. Turning to an attendant hovering around the pink, clamshell-shaped "assisted-care bath," she asked, "May I have a bit more water, please?"<BR/><BR/>Futuristic images of elderly Japanese going through rinse and dry cycles in rows of washing machines may evoke chills. But they also point to where the world's most rapidly aging nation is heading.<BR/><BR/>This spring Japanese companies plan to start marketing a "robot suit," a motorized, battery-operated pair of pants designed to help the aged and infirm move around on their own. Then there is the Wakamaru, a mobile, three-foot-high speaking robot equipped with two camera eyes. It is used largely by working people to keep an eye on their elderly parents at home.<BR/><BR/>These devices and others in the works will push Japanese sales of domestic robots to $14 billion in 2010 and $40 billion in 2025 from nearly $4 billion currently, according to the Japan Robot Association.<BR/><BR/>Leaders of the Philippines and Thailand, two countries that are negotiating free trade pacts with Japan, suggest a different route: granting work visas to tens of thousands of foreign nurses. But that is unlikely in a nation that last year granted asylum to only 10 refugees and in the last decade has issued about 50,000 work visas a year — a fraction of the 640,000 immigrants a year that demographers say are necessary to prevent Japan's population from shrinking.<BR/><BR/>Building on such xenophobia, Japan's nurses' unions successfully lobbied lawmakers of the governing Liberal Democratic Party in late February to block the admission of foreign doctors and nurses.<BR/><BR/>Caught between Japan's high labor costs and anti-immigrant sentiment, some mainstream politicians have even suggested exporting some of Japan's elderly to Thailand and the Philippines, but that has never won much popular support.<BR/><BR/>So even though the human washing machine retails for almost $50,000, enough to pay a year's wages for two Filipino nurses, robotic home care may lie in the future for Japan's aging millions. Fueling the demand is the decision by the government to push for home care for the elderly.<BR/><BR/>Nursing homes are not seen as a financially viable option in a society where the portion of people aged 65 or over is forecast to soar to 36 percent in 2050, from 19 percent today. By that time there may be only one worker for every retiree.<BR/><BR/>But Japanese women increasingly rebel against traditional expectations that they will stay home to care for aged relatives, creating an ever-larger pool of elderly people in need of care. "There are 600 would-be residents on the waiting list here," said Yukiko Sato, general manager of the Katsura-ryo nursing home here, which has only 80 residents.<BR/><BR/>A year ago Katsura-ryo became one of the first 100 pioneer companies in Japan to buy Sanyo's new washing machine for people.<BR/><BR/>"Residents say it is really good because they warm their whole body, they can take the bath on their own, they can protect their privacy," Ms. Sato said. "As for the staff, it means less burden on their backs. Also, they can save time, because the whole procedure can be done in a very short time."<BR/><BR/>To operate the washer, the user sits in a chair that is rolled backward into place. The sides of the machine then close like a clamshell, forming an instant tub with the person's head sticking out the top. Shampooing and drying is done by hand.<BR/><BR/>At a Sanyo office in Tokyo, Hiroaki Otsubo, a general director for biomedical business development, noted that the washing machine had been developed by Mitsuru Haruyama, a businessman crippled by muscular dystrophy.<BR/><BR/>"Some people in the industry say Japanese people are not able to accept a robot as a nurse, that they attach importance to the humanity aspect," Mr. Otsubo said. "So we are stuck in the middle between efficiency and nursing with a human touch. But if you pay attention to the humanity side, you obviously need labor power."<BR/><BR/>But several elderly women living in Katsura-ryo said they rather enjoyed their robotic baths.<BR/><BR/>"It automatically washes my body, so I am quite happy about it," said Kuni Kikuchi, an 88-year-old in a wheelchair who is paralyzed on her left side after a stroke. "These bubbles are good for the massage effect."<BR/><BR/>Eiko Suzuki, 73, generally agreed, saying: "I like both ways. But it is a machine and it hasn't got a heart. So once they set the program they can't change it midway."<BR/><BR/>Ms. Shibahara, whom the nursing home chose to demonstrate the washing machine, said: "With this `hirb' you don't get a chill. You feel always warm."<BR/><BR/>On the front of each machine Sanyo stamps "HIRB," short for harmony in roll-lo bathing, because people are rolled in. But for older Americans it might evoke memories of another effort to humanize a machine — the Disney movie about "Herbie," the Volkswagen "love bug" with feelings.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Copyright © 2004 Global Action on Aging<BR/>Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us <BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Hope this is clear <BR/>low skill jobs can be filled by robots - giving everyone a better standard of livingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-60945116003744990752008-01-30T19:34:00.000-06:002008-01-30T19:34:00.000-06:00Anonymous - Japan,Do you have any additional insig...Anonymous - Japan,<BR/>Do you have any additional insights about Japan? Tell us more about you!<BR/>Welcome! <BR/>(please name yourself something other than Anonymous so we know who you are)Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09583438645860375661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-30414414088131256162008-01-30T18:22:00.000-06:002008-01-30T18:22:00.000-06:00Actually in Japan the ag jobs pay wages closer to ...Actually in Japan the ag jobs pay wages closer to the manufacturing wages.<BR/><BR/>there is no inherent reason why farms can't use a lot of robots like they do in japan and employ highly skilled robot operators <BR/><BR/>just a thought <BR/><BR/>visit a farm in japan you will be impressedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-34568566592472314072008-01-30T17:58:00.000-06:002008-01-30T17:58:00.000-06:00I agree - certain states in the snow belt are doin...I agree - certain states in the snow belt are doing just fine<BR/><BR/>MINN in particular has spectacular growth and high paying jobs.<BR/><BR/>it is all about how well educated the workers are and how business friendly the state is<BR/><BR/>are wages important as well?<BR/><BR/>I am not sure what Dee's position on wages is - i mean when a restrictive law is put in place, is dee saying wages go up or wages go down? Here is the quote from Dee - <BR/><BR/>I did NOT say they rescinded the laws because they increased wages. I said they increased wages to try to resolve their labor shortages caused by the restrictionist laws.<BR/>(end of Dee quote)<BR/><BR/>i am somewhat befuddled - Dee, can you clarify what happens to wages right after the restrictive laws are passed?<BR/><BR/>appreciate itAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548695401579410439.post-7951749680987266562008-01-30T13:59:00.000-06:002008-01-30T13:59:00.000-06:00Michigan's economy and job outlook has been dismal...Michigan's economy and job outlook has been dismal for at least the past 30 or more years. This is nothing new about Michigan. <BR/><BR/>I don't know what the answer is to stimulate their economy and job growth but obviously they have serious management and political problems to have allowed this to go on for so long. Maybe their government needs to study how other states in the snow belt have been able to have a successful economy but they haven't for some time now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com