Award-winning economist Dean Baker: Yang's claim on robots and jobs unfounded

[Chambi]

Dean Baker is "One of the few economists who issued frequent public warnings about the housing bubble".
Source.

Here's Baker on Yang's central campaign claim:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[ritapria]

1. I think Andrew Yang is pretty damn smart

Self -Driving Trucks, for example, will cost Americans millions of jobs …………. The think tankers don't give a shit ….. This same breed of cat claimed NAFTA was going to bolster America's manufacturing base

[Chambi]

2. "This same breed"

Do you mean not Baker but other people?

[redqueen]

3. "This same breed of cat claimed NAFTA was going to bolster America's manufacturing base"

Yep!

People see what's going on around them. Why these types would rather point to charts and insist it isn't happening is a mystery.

[Chambi]

4. But did Baker make that claim?

I assume he didn't, and that's why you have to switch to "his same breed", which doesn't include himself.

[redqueen]

5. He's got his head buried so deep in the charts he believes in

that he's in denial. We saw the same thing with NAFTA.

Yang is right. We ignore him at our peril.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/amysterling/2019/06/15/automated-future/

...

Lockheed Martin uses augmented reality in the construction of its new Orion spacecraft. Technicians don the Microsoft Hololens and see an overlay detailing exactly which piece from among of thousands goes where. Shelley Peterson, Lockheed’s Head of Emerging Technologies, reported that the preliminary use cases result in over 90% reduction in touch labor, turning what once took multiple techs multiple shifts into work that one person can do in a matter of hours. This case is one among multitudes echoing the tune of technological streamlining. Efficiency improvements, automation, and shifts to lower priced labor markets must be embraced by countries looking for competitive advantage. But they must go hand in hand with mechanisms that support displaced workers.

...

Disenfranchised workers are rightfully angry and express it with their vote. David Autor, MIT Professor of Economics, et al. finds that we are Importing Political Polarization. Both Republican and Democrat districts that were heavily impacted by automation and outsourcing tended to oust moderate congressional representatives in favor of more conservative or liberal ones, respectively. Furthermore, the researchers found that “in presidential elections, counties with greater trade exposure shifted towards the Republican candidate.” The politician who promises to Make America Great Again speaks the right language, offering nationalistic sentiment and relief for those caught in the technological crossfire of the inevitable future. But in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “well done is better than well said.” In this regard, workers need action.

...

[redqueen]

6. Deutsche Bank says robots are already replacing workers as it ramps up a plan to axe 18,000 jobs

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/deutsche-bank-replacing-18000-jobs-with-ai-machine-learning-fn-report-2019-11-1028696144

[redqueen]

7. Anyone who hasn't seen In The Age of AI needs to do so

Link to tweet

[Hav]

8. What is the controversy?

I read Yang's piece and it's pretty much what I expected. But I don't really get where these tweets want to go.
If it's about the claim that it'll be great for the GDP, then that seems to be a relatively minor point as that didn't seem to be the focus of what I get from Yang's piece. His piece seemed more focused on the workers than expected economic development.
Or is the point that the consequences of automation were exaggerated?