Friday, December 13, 2024

WTH

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/12/12/trump-port-strike-automation/

One of Trump's big agendas is reducing government waste and inefficiency, which I agree is a good thing, yet his position on the dockworkers strike is that he wants LESS efficiency in US cargo handling.  He's coming down on the side of a union who's president has gotten obscenely rich, who's members are extremely well compensated, and who are willing to destroy the US economy.    What in the hell is he thinking?

I'm not an economist, nor do I play one on TV, but I can tell him right now that this strike is going to massively increase the very prices on consumer goods that he promised to bring down.  Both in the short term as over half of our nations ports shut down, but in the long term as imported good will become more expensive as the costs to unload ships goes up.    Beyond that, it'll harm US companies that EXPORT things to other countries both short and long term.   Short term, we'll likely see exports fall sharply along with revenue declines for companies that rely on exports for revenue.   Long term, because it'll make US exports more expensive and less attractive to other countries.  

I shouldn't have to say this, because I agree with many of Trump's agenda items, but this is a really bad move and the timing of it is even worse.   He's going to start his triumphant second term by shutting down half of the ports in the US, raising prices, and putting thousands of (non dockworkers) out of work.  

 

FYI, this statement just makes Trump look stupid.   “I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump posted. “The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.”.    


https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1867384196693688498?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

8 comments:

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Trump indeed makes stupid statements, which is why so many of us which he'd just shut up!
Unions haven't been useful for decades except for defending lazy and or incompetent workers and virtually blackmailing the companies their employees work for. Thereby increasing the costs of businesses and buyers.

Marshal Art said...

Yeah...this is really bad shit. How many workers would be out of work given the massive increase in productivity automation would provide seems to something he's clearly missing.

Craig said...

Yes he does, yet his fans always seem to make excuses for him. This is pure idiocy on his part. I agree that the usefulness of unions has declined significantly, but these guys are a new low.

Craig said...

What an unexpected response, good on ya. While Trump is trying to justify keeping a few hundred/thousand incredibly high paying jobs at ports, he's willing to put many more people out of work, and increase prices on everything imported through east coast ports. Further, his choice to support the union in their bid to perpetuate inefficiency and add costs to goods directly goes against his obsession with efficiency and his promises to lower prices.

Marshal Art said...

I'm really interested to see someone interview him more deeply on this subject. Automation is not something which should be obstructed, as it almost always (if not absolutely always) leads to better things all around. Simply replacing workers isn't a good enough reason to interfere, as we couldn't get to where we are technology-wise if we worried about jobs being replaced by machines. I want to know what he thinks the problem is here in some detail.

Craig said...

I agree. Although his quote about understanding the issue as well as anyone or whatever, doesn't give me hope.

I see two issues here.

1. Allowing these union members to hold the US hostage when they are already being compensated handsomely. That the leader of the union has managed to accumulate yachts and the like doesn't help. These aren't poor oppressed workers being exploited. They're literally standing in the way of a better, cheaper, more efficient system.

2. Automation in general. Port automation is not some newfangled technology that's likely to fail. It's being used across the globe successfully. If we can increase port efficiency we can literally gain lower costs that should be passed on to the consumer.

This union has a pretty sweet scam going here and they don't want to lose it. But the reality is that the US has a history of "losing" some jobs due to improvements in technology and benefiting from it. When Biden kicked the can on this due to the election, I would never have believed that Trump was going to roll over and take it in the shorts on this one.

Marshal Art said...

It's rare when some union calls for a strike and the public is held hostage to their demands. If there's some real harm routinely suffered by workers but ignored by employers, that's a legit reason to call for a work stoppage. But to pretend their already high wages aren't high enough fails to compel sympathy.

Craig said...

Unfortunately this potential strike will hold the US hostage by shutting down every port on the east coast as well as some/most/all of the ports in the gulf. This will have an almost immediate and significant effect on inventory and prices of all sorts of goods, as well as directly harm US companies that see things like grain to overseas buyers. The shipping companies can't re route to a west coast port (although I suspect some are preparing to from their port of origin), and they can't afford to have full ships sitting unloaded for expended periods of time. Low inventories will drive prices up short term, while increases shipping costs will do so long term.

Conversely, automation will drive prices down in the long term because it will lower costs and increase capacity.

For Trump, who ran on lowering prices, to have one of his first acts as president be to support this strike and the resultant price increase seems like shooting himself in the foot. It's bad policy, bad optics, and bad timing.

You're correct that these guys are already reasonably well paid, and this is all about stopping progress and efficiency.

Hypothetically, let's say that the union gets what they want. The west coast ports automate and shippers start realizing that the benefits of quick turnaround and efficient unloading offset the cost of the extra fuel and time in transit, and all of a sudden the union workers are out of jobs because of their greed.