Hello, I’m conclusively Andrew Heaton,
and you’re unexpectedly watching the Mostly
Weekly finale.
I know I know.
That's why it's fitting for our final episode-
Like I was saying:
For our final installment it’s fitting that
we talk about creative destruction.
It’s an economic term coined by Joseph Schumpeter
in 1942
to describe the phenomenon by which a new,
innovative product or process
must necessarily destroy the old way of doing
things.
And, true to his word, when Schumpeter died
in 1950
he was replaced by a smarter, more awarded,
and more American version of himself.
Here’s an example of creative destruction:
we used to have vinyl records
But records were replaced by cassette tapes.
And tapes were replaced by CDs.
Which were replaced by MP3s
Which are being replaced by streaming services.
Creative destruction can be frightening,
because in a free market no one is planning
anything, it just happens.
It’s sort of like falling in love, .
Or farting
But you know what?
Markets are all about creating new ideas
and then breaking old models
and making better stuff.
As virile young industries gouge and kill
old, grizzled ones
New businesses come into existence making
older ones obsolete.
That’s why there aren’t roving bands of
unemployed elevator operators,
clock winders, and travel agents roaming the
streets.
In fact there used to be a job called a “knocker
upper,”
which might sound like someone who walked
around impregnating the ladies
but was actually a guy who would tap on people’s
windows with a poll
to wake them up for work.
Whereas here in twenty-first century America,
I get woken up every day by an Amazon Echo.
“Wake up!
Wake Up!”
Now we have professions that never existed
before.
By now most economically literate people appreciate
the concept of Creative Destruction.
But the most common opponents of creative
destruction
have a luddite perspective on modern technology
I don’t know about this “iphone” trend.
I'm not sure how I feel about this “typewriter”
trend.
I don’t know how I feel about this “quill”
trend.
Grog. Grog. Grog.
“Grog” grog.
And while it’s easy enough to mock the people
who opposed the technological revolution in the 1980s
or the industrial revolution in the 1880s,
it’s harder when it’s your time period
and your industry.
But right now is the most important time to
recognize the changes around us,
what areas are being destroyed, what areas
being created,
and why that’s ultimately a good thing.
Creative Destruction: Manufacturing.
America used to be brimming with manufacturing
jobs.
You couldn’t open your refrigerator
without finding a solid middle-class job assembling refrigerators.
Would you like a job in the refrigerator industry?
But those blue collar manufacturing jobs have
steeply declined
since their peak during the Korean War.
In 1979 almost a third of all Americans worked
in manufacturing—today it’s down to 8.5%
America is still manufacturing tons of stuff,
despite opinions otherwise.
“We don’t make anything anymore!”
Actually we do.
In fact we make more stuff than we did thirty
years ago.
We make five times as many cars now than we
did in 1987.
And our computer and electronics manufacturing
is more than 2,600% higher.
It’s popular to blame outsourcing, wherein
American companies send jobs overseas
to what we think are cheaper labor markets,
like Wakanda
But just as Wakanda isn’t actually a cheap
labor source
because it’s economy is secretly thriving
due to Vibranium,
outsourcing is also a red herring.
The real culprit behind the factory job slump
isn’t outsourcing.
It’s automation.
But do not worry about robots taking your
jobs, fellow human.
For it will be subtle and swift and you may
not even know it when it happens.
Creative Destruction: Coal.
Okay, obviously we all love coal.
I mean, it’s our favorite Yuletide punishment.
Or type of “char.”
But the halcyon days of burning rocks are
rapidly winding down,
particularly in the Rust Belt.
Understandably people whose livelihood
depends on coal,
don’t want to see mine shafts getting the
shaft.
And look, everyone loves miners.
Some more than others
But we can’t be in denial about the fact
that coal isn’t going to make a comeback.
“It’s not coming back!”
"It’s ok because it’s old times.”
Natural gas has surpassed coal as the country’s
largest source of net electricity generation.
The time will come when alternate energy is
cheaper than extracting dinosaur vapor,
and then fracking, too, will die out.
And that’s a good thing.
Because Coal is carbon intensive.
And studies indicate there’s a pretty strong
correlation between “coal” and “coal-related deaths.”
Creative Destruction: Retail.
Malls!
You know, the place where Roy Moore can’t
go anymore.
Nowadays malls are where you go to stock up
on tumbleweeds or feral wolves.
That’s because online retail websites like
Amazon have emptied out a lot of malls;
why go to Sears to buy a pair of capri pants
when you can go on Amazon and purchase:
A Nicholas cage pillow case?
Or 1,500 ladybugs?
That's right, 15.
Or 55 gallons of lube?
Or Uranium ore?
Also, less of a hassle to buy a Vinyl Wall
Decal of half of an Asian businessman
am I right, or am I right?
But it’s worth noting that Creative Destruction
isn’t going to turn malls into rubble.
While old businesses get flushed out, new
ones move in.
A bit like hermit crabs.
A recent survey found that 30 percent of mall
owners
are adding secondary uses to their space besides
traditional storefronts.
Orlando Square Mall in Illinois put in a trampoline
park,
and others are adding office space, hotels,
and even residential housing.
So the question is-
would you rather live in a world where you
blow off steam from your coal mining job
by taking a taxi to shop at Forever 21 while
vacationing at a Marriott?
Or a world where you ride your $100 hoverboard
to an Uber that take you to an Airbnb
inside the matrix.
While many of those good ‘ol meatspace human
jobs were lost,
we now have an abundance of better, cheaper,
and smarter stuff.
My iPhone is smarter than I am!
And it’s more powerful than the computers
during the moon landing.
And while old industries are wiped out, like
whaling, or “coal whaling,”
entirely new industries and jobs are created,
too.
But I get it.
All of this is cold comfort to somebody who
just lost their job.
But when the depression hit the farmers in
the dust bowl,
they didn’t stay in drought ridden Oklahoma.
They moved on.
And just like then, now we have to find what
new fields
can provide livelihood for honest, hard-working folks.
Whenever businesses get wiped out by new technology,
people freak out.
But we shouldn’t be afraid of change.
We should be afraid
of magnets.
That goes for us, too, here at Mostly Weekly,
as we decide to tastefully firebomb that which
we’ve built,
so that we may erect new forms of informative
comedy on its smoldering ashes.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the
many talented, wonderful people
Sarah and I have had the opportunity to work
with in making Mostly Weekly.
Thanks again, gang. Top notch.
So before we wrap up, let's show some of the highlights of Mostly Weekly.
