Trump Tax Plan Gives Jobs Away to Robots and Will Increase Unemployment
If they want to create jobs, why are they incentivizing companies to automate?
It's a simple equation. Fewer workers means fewer consumers. Fewer consumers mean fewer products and fewer services purhased. Fewer products and fewer services purchased means less business for companies and less profits for shareholders---with the ultimate result of recession.
The European Union and South Korea are considering charging their employers payroll taxes for their robots--to help them cover Social Security and medical benefits for employees displaced by robots. This will help prevent their societies from imploding as greedy companies replace employees with machines. Our shortsighted Republicans in Congress are content to let society implode (as long as it doesn't happen before they are reelected). Contemptible.
If they want to create jobs, why are they incentivizing companies to automate?
It's a simple equation. Fewer workers means fewer consumers. Fewer consumers mean fewer products and fewer services purhased. Fewer products and fewer services purchased means less business for companies and less profits for shareholders---with the ultimate result of recession.
The European Union and South Korea are considering charging their employers payroll taxes for their robots--to help them cover Social Security and medical benefits for employees displaced by robots. This will help prevent their societies from imploding as greedy companies replace employees with machines. Our shortsighted Republicans in Congress are content to let society implode (as long as it doesn't happen before they are reelected). Contemptible.
The bill includes a provision called "Full and Immediate Expensing" that allows a company to deduct the cost of any new asset right away instead of when it sells the asset or as deductions depreciate over time. That means a company can take out a cheap loan, use it to purchase an expensive machine, and write it off immediately. Some economists argue that this could spur companies to favor automation over jobs and to invest in robots over people.
For example, if an employer had the option of hiring a worker and paying her $1 million over 10 years or buying a $1 million machine that will perform the same task, the machine ends up being cheaper because of the tax incentive.