I wish you all the best in all your endeavors Banjo. In my world when something posts something misleading they get called on it. We call that living in a reality based world, and if you can accept and learn from it then it will make you a better person. I certainly expect the same from you, although sadly you completely ignored my point and focused on something I didn't disagree with in any way (I have no doubt that the number of waiters increased in absolute numbers as the graph indicated or the number of manufacturing jobs fell, never said I did). I only wish I went to your school if pointing out gaps in logic and misuse of statistics was what the school yard bullies and those with anger issues engaged in!
I think the reason the comparison is relevant is because the current political rhetoric is around manufacturing jobs and the rhetoric around Obama's unemployment figures are that they are all low quality jobs. Waiting is considered a low quality job because wages tend to be low, work tend to be temporary, and in America its considered to be degrading to serve someone else. Manufacturing jobs tend to be considered higher quality because they can be longer term (like the "good ole days") and something tangible is produced. Some manufacturing jobs are more basic than others. More and more manufacturing is getting more and more skilled. There is a shortage of workers for these roles. I agree, more people should be going to trade schools. However, that isn't strictly financially easy, but that burden should be bearable by most. Personally, I believe the government should be encouraging more people into trade schools and community colleges with a focus on practical skills. (On an aside, I found the Trump University settlement appalling because it legitimizes the scummy parts of For-Profit education).
Oh I just noticed you edited your already good post. I was thinking of Huawei before the edit actually... yes, great phones, and for those like me who don't like Samsung like android interfaces, Huawei completely ripped Apple's, it is very similar to use. Still have some issue with their app store, as many apps granted through apple app store are not available, including a bunch of educative ones, and models sold in the Mainland are less foreigners' friendly the iphones. Funny stuff is a few months ago, Iphone 6 or 5 was banned for sale in Beijing, because it was accused of beeing a copy of some local phone. No idea if the ban lasted but Intelectual property in China is in a world of its own. Besides how many accounts/nicknames have you used already on this site Zzzzzzz1 ?
I understand China is desperately trying to reduce their reliance on manufacturing and to increase service type jobs? We should switch places with them?
I think the Chinese government has only one objective: keep employment high. Busy workers don't revolt over things like freedom of speech.
It's obvious that service economy is going to replace manufacturing economy as we are progressing toward saturation with material goods. To quote my former boss (RIP), "you only need one Rolex, but you'd want to keep getting those blowjobs".
China can nowadays almost manufacture anything at absolute top quality. That is already a given as the evidence is sufficiently out there. Nowadays Chinese companies also create their own top notch products which is OK in case the knowhow was obtained legally and if China allowed foreign competitors to operate in Z china in the same way than Chinese companies can sell their products abroad and conduct R&D and acquire foreign entities. That's not the case, however, and I hope Trump will have the guts to go all ape on this issue. How many other aliases I have here? I only have this one. Why? Someone who knows China is a rare commodity on this site?
In the limit when we eventually automate all manufacturing, all jobs will be "service jobs". My proposal to increase the pay for waiting and bartending is the US government should regulate waiting and bartending to make sure you need a federally issued license, a mandatory 4 years of college to study waiting on table, then the pays will definitely increase.