A couple of follow-ups to stories we've discussed on the radio show this week.
ANOTHER mysterious illness in the Dominican Republic. You'll recall that I told legal analyst Loretta Powers that I am willing to consider that this is just the media stringing together illness and death stories from a region that over 2 million Americans visit each year. But Loretta countered with one theory: cheap alcohol being sold by drug cartels. With THAT in mind, the New York Post article reports that this latest victim of illness, from Denver, is experiencing kidney failure and having trouble breathing. UPDATE: since I first posted this article, the poor man has DIED. ANOTHER death in the Dominican.
A second follow-up:
I hope you heard my interview with social psychologist Adam Waytz about his new book, "The Power Of Human." In it, he contemplates a world in which humans and robots live side-by-side. He told me that robots WILL increasingly take repetitive jobs away from humans.
With that in mind:
A new report says robots could take 20-million manufacturing jobs by the year 2030. The report released today by Oxford Economics predicts machines will displace about 8.5-percent of the global manufacturing workforce over the next decade.
The report says the move to robots could generate new jobs as fast as it automates them, and lead to a boost in the global gross domestic product. It adds, however, that the move could contribute to income inequality.
That income inequality will hit people who have trouble at jobs that DON'T involve repetition. Ironically, it's why many opponents of a $15 minimum wage argue that those workers would be displaced even MORE quickly, as employers decide that automation is cheaper.
Read more here.
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