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Human Events...
ATM a tool of prosperity
John Hayward, Staff Writer   
06.16.11

Earlier this week, President Obama attempted to blame high unemployment on automation, specifically the rising popularity of ATMs and airline ticketing kiosks.  The idea is that such machines wipe out jobs by making human bank tellers and ticket counter attendants obsolete. 

In reality, such machines are among the tools that help us realize a level of wealth beyond the dreams of our forefathers.  Enhanced productivity does not destroy jobs.  It creates them, as new markets are opened, new occupations appear, and society gains more wealth to spend.  Someone must build, program, install, and maintain the ATMs.  People find better things to do with the time they used to spend standing in line at banks.
What is prosperity, and what drives its creation?

Prosperity is not simply a matter of full employment, or the basic needs of all citizens being met.  Full employment can be accomplished through slavery.  Basic resources can be distributed through authoritarian power.  Neither of those systems produces a “prosperous” environment for most of the people trapped in them.

Prosperity is not measured only in luxury, or free time.  It requires liberty, but freedom is not enough by itself, as you can see from the simple life of a solitary loner living in the wilderness.  What brings liberty and productivity together, creating jobs and improving the value of our lives?  What is the fountain of prosperity?  The answer helps to understand why ATMs do not destroy jobs, and why you should be cautious about accepting an offer to live in a society where everyone has a job, but no one is filthy rich.

— John Hayward

Read it with links at Human Events


 
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