Sending my money overseas

Hey, I'm going to Jamaica next week! Island princesses, good dope (which I can't smoke, unfortunately, because it tends to make me believe that I'm dying), getting my hair braided, sunshine, the water, and a WEDDING!

Let me officially invite Jesus, in case we run out of wine.

Don't know exactly what I'm gonna do down there for the first few days when I'll be by myself. Probably pretty much what I do here all day by myself....talk to the imaginary leopard who follows me around.

I'm also gonna make some progress on this side project I'm doing, where I'm doing research for a documentary about economics...well, about capitalism specifically. I'm reading a lot of fairly lefty books about the modern economy, at least to start out. One I just started, called The End of Work, has a pretty interesting premise...that technology is eliminating the need for workers. I've been talking a lot with my brother lately about the fact that this is precisely what has happened in the U.S. (and even the global) manufacturing sector. Everybody likes to blame "outsourcing" or "capital flight" caused by free trade policies for the decimation of the u.s. manufacturing labor market. But, when you look at the numbers, the majority of that loss has been due to improvements in technology that have decreased the need for workers! (I've been spouting that theory since I mindlessly accepted it from one of my professors a few years ago). This book even argues that the same is happening in the service sector, and even that it has been happening in the "emerging economies" of China and India.

Keep in mind, manufacturing productivity has been doing pretty well (or fucking incredible if you're China). Companies are still making bank. They just don't need as many people to do it.

As the aforementioned professor explained to my class way back when, the displaced workers in the U.S. have generally been absorbed into the service sector. But, he asked the ominous question, what happens when the service sector becomes "technologized"? Will we have robots at wendy's? We already have automated customer service almost across the board.

Now, when you add the outsourcing phenomenon (which I'm not denying exists...just saying it's not as important as the political rhetoric suggests)...then, if you're an american...get your shotgun and start hunting rabbits?

Anyway, that's just one perspective. It would, of course, be belied by the incredibly low unemployment rates that we've seen in the past few years (though, it is important to keep in mind that the unemployment rate only counts people who are looking for work...not those who have given up). We'll see what this housing bust entails for the labor market, I guess.