Long Report (2400)

You have become quasi-experts about the impact of the widening wealth gap in America. Congratulations. Now, you must use your knowledge to explore a social or economic issue facing the U.S. now or in years to come affected by the widening gap.

For example, too many Americans believe that the onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) will not affect their jobs. Naïveté describes the reaction best. More simply, no one knows where AI will take us in the immediate (next 10 years) or distant future (next 20). Already, precursors of robots appear in people’s homes, as vacuum cleaners, security systems we can speak to, or home enhancement products such as Alexa, all seminal steps towards more complex AI. Need more examples: Uber has launched a fleet of driverless trucks to travel American highways, robots assemble the frames of Fords, and even your smart phone tracks who you contact, what you order for food, and a host of other items to predict what you may want to see or hear. The American (and world) has approached only the edge of AI. Its impact will grow with time.

Innovation and automation, as I mentioned in class, has always eliminated jobs as they make a process more efficient or easier. A century ago, thousands of manufacturers produced buggy-whips. Then came the automobile. Buggies vanished, so did the whips. Again a century ago, gas lamps lighted city streets, each light ignited by a lamplighter. Then came electric lights. Lamp lighters disappeared. The list goes on.

In regards to the topic of the widening gap, AI will hurt many people—blue collar and white collar. They will lose their jobs. Their wealth will decline. Meanwhile, profits for companies will increase because they use less labor, making the wealthy wealthier. The gap widens.

Initially, the loss of jobs will hurt. People will not immediately have the skills needed to find a job paying a similar salary. Think beyond the individual, which you need to do with economics. (Economics deals with the whole of an economy, not the particular.)

Will new jobs arise with AI? Yes. AI needs individuals to repair the mechanical aspects of the AI equipment as well as the computer hardware and software. Companies will need more programmers. They will need people to sell the equipment, especially in the more complex AI applications used in business. Remember the buggies. Their wooden wheels cracked and needed replacement. Wheelwrights fixed them. Cars did not use wooden wheels, so the jobs of wheelwrights vanished. Buggies did not need mechanics who knew the working of the internal combustion engine. Cars did, and a new career emerged. Most importantly, mechanics generally have earned more than wheelwrights. So in their own little way, mechanics with their skills narrowed the wealth gap.

Domhoff and Madrick write about the importance of investing in education. People who can readily adapt to a new economic situation will fair better than those who do not. Government and educators cannot predict what particular skills will succeed the best in the future for no one predicts the future well. One truism exists for all workers: Better readers and writers as well as people who can perform mathematics (not arithmetic), who understand the logic of math, always perform well. Think for a second. AI will come with manuals that need to be read. Math forms the foundation of computer hardware and software. Writing: Individuals always need to communicate effectively with others.

You could take it a step further with the advancement of infrastructure. For example, if American society improves public transportation, people will find it easier to look and get new jobs without moving from their communities. Or they will find it easier to relocate to another city and town where jobs opportunities abound.

By providing better education and better transportation, society opens opportunities, enabling individuals to find more socially mobile paths. Then a chance emerges that they will do better and, as a result, accumulate wealth, narrowing the gap.

You do not need to write about this topic. I will cover more in the days to come (hopefully) and in class. For example, racism and sexism affects the wealth gap, making it wider and enabling men, particularly European American men, to garner more wealth without as much competition.