How do we fix the U.S. SupplyChain in the wake of COVID19?

I can't share a link to an article since I heard this on the Rachel Maddow show.

I can only share the video produced by Tectonix GEO and the narrative under their video on Youtube. It was shocking to me. They tracked mobile device signals from the Tyson plant in Indiana. This plant has reported over 900 cases of covid-19 infections at this plant. The plant was closed for two weeks, and reopened this pastThursday.

[snip]'We looked at the footprint of some of the nation's top meat processing plants using anonymized mobile device location data. What we saw was eye-opening. Every single plant we analyzed showed devices coming to and from every state in the nation and even into Canada. A sobering reminder of just how complex our supply chain operations can be and why it is so difficult to manage in the wake of COVID-19' [/snip]

 

You can't unless you are able to completely automate. Anytime humans are involved in the supply chain you have a risk of them getting sick or worse, which leads to delays, closures or expired products. For example, imagine farmers who wants to get crops harvested suddenly cannot find enough healthy harvesters. Their crops expire in the the fields. Which raises prices. Or truckers can't drive because they are in the hospital. Not enough Air traffic Controllers show up for work.....There are a million ways Murphy can screw the works. This is a real good opportunity to transition to a robotic economy and those that do will reap profits.

 

Change the American culture to place a high value on mitigation strategies that can limit the spread of infection. COVID has proven that most Americans have acted selfishly, stubbornly, and ignorantly. Few wore or are still wearing masks, few fully adopted social distancing, and we have a dangerous and growing element of lawless aholes who believe its their "right" to defy shutdown ordinances.

Change the culture and we can endure this pandemic and the next.

 

Pretty sure Jkca1's post is far more accurate, less partisan, and less tyrannical than what you just posted. I agree with him to. The supply chain that we have has literally millions of different routes and connections that span the world. As was pointed out in the op...just ONE factory alone had connections in every single State AND Canada. That alone is over 50 different connections. Each requiring at bare assed minimum of 102 people. The actual amount more than likely equaling over 500 people when counting people loading and unloading, vehicle maintenance workers etc etc. And even more when talking about the people those people interact with.

 

Interesting. So you're saying things like wearing a mask, covering your mouth, staying home when you're sick, keeping distance in crowded areas, etc, are "partisan" and "tyrannical"? I've been trying to understand why the US has such a commanding lead on infections and deaths and your comment poses a thought. If mitigation strategies are "partisan" then that would mean one side is for them and the other against which, if proved true, would mean blame could be laid along party lines.

 

I'm pretty sure it was your insult on "rights" that tipped it along with the self-righteousness of your rhetoric. What this pandemic also exposed, is that very few Americans in fact believe in the Federal Republic. Far fewer than we'd been led to believe.

 

Where did I say that? I didn't. In point of fact most of the protests being conducted are more about the lockdown than about wearing masks. Heck, you'll find tons of photos of protestors wearing masks. (and no, I'm not talking about bandana's or ski maks, but of actual surgical type looking masks).

Also, what AmericanNationalist stated in post 6. No need to repeat what's already been said. Thanks AmericanNationalist!

 

Well I'm surely not reserving my disdain for those protesters because they're wrong on so many levels and they make Republicans look bad.

• They're wrong for defying lawful ordinances - Republicans believe in law & order.
  
• They're wrong for having such a caviler opposition to life saving infection mitigation strategies - Republicans are pro-life.
• They're wrong for bringing firearms into a setting that warrants no such showing of firearms - Republicans believe in responsible firearms use.
• They're wrong for thinking they have a "right" to do as they please when in almost 250 years of law the state and federal powers have reserved authority to maintain public health and safety enacted through legislation and upheld through judicial decisions; both mechanisms of our Constitution - Republicans believe in the Constitution.

 

Suggest in the future singling out particular sentences or highlighting what it is you're commenting on less the entire context be considered.

 

COVID didn't break the supply chain, the lockdowns did.

How we fix the supply chain is to stop listening to lunatics like Rachel Maddow and end the lockdowns.

 

The Supply Chain isn't broke.
There was a massive demand shock that emptied shelves in the short term
Followed by a supply shock restricting supplies in the short term
But the supply chain is vibrant and flexible and supplies are being replinished

If, on the other hand, we want to talk about worker safety, that is a discussion that need be held.
Of course it's too bad it took shocks to both the supply and demand sides to bring these issues to light.

More automation
Higher safety standards
Shorter work periods with longer breaks
Better training
Better pay.

Next.

 

"A robotic economy" ? Automation is the biggest reason we lost millions of jobs in the auto making and other industries and why it is predicted that 25%, or 70 million of American jobs in the future will be lost due to automation. What jobs do you propose the majority of people seek out in the future if this country transitions to total automation? Will we all be expected to earn our living picking oranges in California, or peaches in Georgia? How many jobs exist that cannot be replaced by automation. There's very few jobs that automation can't replace and they're primarily in the tech sector.

Your suggestion that this country go full-on automation is possibly the worst idea conceivable. If you really want to know how to put an end to this virus for the time being -- because it will return again --is to follow the instructions of the CDC. It's really that simple. Rather than devastating the economy with full automation that would destroy our country rapidly. Just wear a ****ing mask and maintain social distancing. Really, is that all so hard to do?

 

Full automation will happen eventually anyways. Whether its encouraged or not. The only way it wouldn't is if the government bans it in some way shape or form. It's going to have to be addressed eventually anyways. Its one of the reasons that I liked Andrew Yang, he was actually trying to address it. Unfortunately the current crop of DNC politicians don't really care to think of such things. They're more into power right now than thinking long term...or even short term for that matter.

 

We have a permanent growing excess of displaced human workers that are increasingly not economically competitive. This means there are steadily fewer jobs and declining wages for the median human worker. Oh sure, Silicon Valley employs and will always employ a small minority of people. The specific intellectual demands required for jobs in Silicon Valley only suits a minority of trained professionals.

Do we really want to see a world with increasing levels of economic goods and services that are produced by ever-cheaper yet more capable intelligent automated machines ? This would result in permanently declining human jobs and declining wages.

Machines have no healthcare costs, no sick leave, no vacations, no employee turnover, no employee dissatisfaction, the elimination of human errors, and declining costs over time as these machines become cheaper and more efficient. The naive wishful thinking that humans can economically compete with these ever cheaper - ever more capable intelligent automated machines, is just that wishful thinking not grounded in reality.

The majority of remaining jobs would be nothing more than lower paying service jobs which may keep unemployment temporarily low but only increases the issue of rising wealth inequality and underemployment.

 

Really ...



The political right respecting law enforcement ... by spitting on them in the middle of a pandemic.

 

Ah, so you don’t like a free people acting free.

 

After the farmers are dead in the water, the insolvent banks, being bailed out by trillions in FED QE, can sweep in like vultures and buy up the farms on the cheep.

Yay for government!!

 

Good answer. Now, what are your thoughts on the $15/hr minimum wage laws that are leading to an increase in the use of automation in that job sector?
As for the food chain, hopefully, the American public is getting an object lesson in the art of being more self sufficient.

 

Jestsayin is ignoring the fact that increased automation is coming to the economy whether there is a wage increase or not.

 

I would need some verification that the $15 an hour proposed minimum pay hike would indeed actually be the cause of increased automation. I'm just not seeing that happening. There are a handful of states, Connecticut, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, as well as D.C., that will be the first wave of states to pass laws requiring a $15 minimum wage by 2025 or earlier. I recall a starting salary of .50 cents an hour for my first job at 16 and by the time I turned 18, I was earning a huge hourly salary of $1.00 an hour. But gasoline was .35 cents a gallon and a pack of smokes was .23 cents in a vending machine. My point is that as hourly wages increase, so does everything else and it hardly creates a net gain for the average worker in the end.

If the increase is phased in, it will always compete with normal inflation and other market forces which selectively affect prices. If, for example, oil suddenly to a jump back to its highs, the value of the wage increase could be negated. When Obama was elected, Republicans were predicting $6 /gallon gasoline prices. If that were to happen the $15 dollar minimum might well have less purchasing power than $7.25 does today.

Right now, the minimum wage is such that its recipients must receive government assistance in order to subsist. As the minimum wage increases, it simply offsets monies being received from the government. This lowers the governments budgetary provision, but makes no discernible difference to those receiving that assistance.

We could get into the idea of job losses, but those would occur in businesses that are already marginal and which would be closed by the aforementioned external inflationary items that have nothing to do with minimum wages. Some firms would actually see an increase in productivity and reduce prices due to the minimum wage tipping the scales toward mechanization -- driving down inflation at the same time creating different job categories to absorb displaced workers.

The answer is that the life of minimum wage workers change for the better -- as would the overall economic health of society. The only people who would lose are those companies that are outsourcing their assets. Marginal businesses that only exist because of the availability of cheap labor would fail. The government expenditures, currently $150 billion a year for the working poor, would fall and revenue from payroll taxes would increase. Increasing the minimum wage would significantly decrease the share of 'automatable' employment held by low‐skilled workers.

 

.0037 seconds on the google machine. It would take a few minutes to list another thousands links but I have things to do as people are coming over for dinner.
McDonald’s ex-CEO: $15/hr minimum wage will unleash the robot rebellion
https://arstechnica.com/information...inimum-wage-will-unleash-the-robot-rebellion/
The Future Of AI And Automation In The Workforce
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes...and-automation-in-the-workforce/#662162f74e36

 

1: I said most...didn't say all.

2: Yes.

 

Where did you hear spitting? I seriously doubt that happened with out arrest and coverage.. Care to link it, or you just want to go with fabrication?

 

Freedom is a great thing. But pure freedom creates anarchy. That's why we have laws. Laws temper that wild pure freedom and form it into a stronger lasting thing that we can all have a piece of.

So to that point I believe you are incorrect to claim that people defying lawful ordinances and otherwise acting in ways that are detrimental to public safety are "free people acting free". By definition many of these people are criminals or to a lesser degree they're simply malcontents confusing the freedom we actually have as a society with their own personal desires.

 

Unconstitutional ordinances are not lawful.