The Busy Repairman? --Help from Youtube

 I saw this article in today's Union-Tribune by Soo Youn from the Washington Post.:  "The Busy Repairman:  

Ovens, dishwashers and washing machines — all kinds of appliances —

are breaking down like never before, but there’s nobody to fix them"

The premise of the article is that because everyone is now at home much more, they are using their appliances more and they are failing.  Repair technicians are in short supply and it is now taking longer for them to be able to obtain parts.  

I have no reason to doubt Soo Youn's report.  But It did surprise me.  I had thought that the need for traditional repair services was dropping off rapidly.  Yes, appliances are now made better and are more reliable.  Yes, we can now get repair parts via eBay or Amazon within a day or so.  But the biggest improvement is having youtube with detailed instructions for how to repair every type of problem with every different model of device done by multiple experts in every language.   These youtube videos aren't just "available" -- they are heavily used!  Some have had many millions of views.  Just imagine how bad the "shortage" would be if we didn't have this new, wonderful youtube resource to help us repair stuff! 

  

Israel Works Hard to Stoke the Fires of their Conflict with Palestinians

The Washington Post today (Jan 19, 2016) reported that Israel is destroying homes of relatives of Palestinians who might have been involved in some sort of attack on an Israeli citizen or property.  World Bulletin reported that they are even destroying a family home of a boy who was accused of stabbing an Israeli.  This is clearly a form of "Collective Punishment" which is just another form of terrorism.  The Israeli government, by punishing extended families and neighbors tries to terrorize the Palestinians into compliance with their harsh policies.  All of this is done without fair trials or any reasonable form of just due process.  I'm pretty sure that Israel knows that this won't stop reactions from Palestinians --but probably hopes it will actually make the Palestinian citizens more angry and stir up even more hatred and resentment.  Israel wants the conflict to continue, so they can continue to receive the $1 Billion per year from the US, and financial support from so many other countries.  Israel continues to build more of their settlements on prime Palestinian territory and continues to blockade the Palestinian controlled territories so those people will not have the capability to build a viable economy and government.

During this Syrian refugee crisis, Israel has an opportunity to be a good world citizen.  They could take on Syrian refugees.  They could help refugees come across the border from Syria and help them get on safe boats to get to other countries of refuge.  But it appears they have only provided some assistance to refugees when they arrive at locations like Greek Island of Lesbos.  Instead, they are participating in treatment of Syrian refugees similar to how WW2 Jewish refugees were treated.  

Catherine Rampell does the US really need more babies?

Catherine Rampell, of the Washington Post, wrote a column that was published by the San Diego Union Tribune that is titled: "We need more babies."  The essence of her column was that the birth rate in the US has fallen so low that we older folks won't have enough "workers" to support us.  So she thinks we need to increase our national birth rate.
I disagree with her for several reasons:
1. The world' resources are being used up at an alarming rate, which is contributing to extinction of many other important species.  Because of the increase in the world's population, we are increasing CO2, warming the ocean, polluting the ocean, and destroying the land.  The process cannot continue forever!  We need to reduce the global birthrate, not increase it!
2.The impact of Americans on the world's environment is many times larger than that of any other country.  Increasing our birthrate will impact the world much more severely than increasing it in other countries.
3. Her opinion, as presented, could be considered as "racist" since what she really means is that the US needs to increase the birthrate of "people like us" and not let people from other countries come to the use to "backfill" our under-performing birthrate. Can't we accept people from Africa, Latin America, The Philippines, or Asia?
4. Medical advances that have been made, and those "in the pipeline" will increase the life expectancy of everyone, and contribute even further to the impact on the global environment.  It will also allow more Americans to be able to live a longer, more productive life.  That will mean that we will be able to work longer and produce more in our lifetime, and maybe we won't need so many workers to help us.
5. Robotics is moving very quickly!  Many boring service jobs are being eliminated in the US and eventually around the world.  Many of the lower-paying service jobs involve caring for older people -- which may, in part, be replaced by robotics, electronics and computers.  The date of the "Singularity" when computers become smarter than people has been moved from 2100, to 2050, and now might be in the 2030's!  Self-driving cars are now on the road, will be sold next year, and might be in the majority by 2025.  Do we need more car and truck drivers to be born?  I don't think so!
6. As a nation, we should do everything we can to promote reduction in global birthrate, but should also try to import labor, as needed to fill the positions we feel are required to maintain our country.  To do that, we need to set an example of controlling our birthrate, and maintain high standards of welfare, political freedom, and security so that the best from other countries will want to emigrate to the US.
7. We may not want to "import" labor from other countries for all jobs.  We can certainly export a lot of our "work" to other countries  For example, we can establish health care standards and allow older people needing assisted living to move and be cared for in countries and facilities that embrace our standards.  We have already moved a lot of the low-paying manufacturing and call center jobs to other countries.  Why can't we continue that process?