The Service Economy is an Asshole

I don't like TV that makes me think too hard about something non-comedic. As a child I spent a lot of time watching "Unsolved Mysteries" and varying sci-fi related television. I think in my adolescence I decided that entertainment should be synonymous with "hilarity" and nothing else would be a substitute. Thusly, in my present life-stage (which has developed a great love for irreverence) I spend a lot of time watching Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Adult Swim has a fabulous little dob'o'television called Metalocalypse about a death metal band called Dethklok that so popular that they are monitored by the government because an entire economy revolves around them. In a recent episode, Metalocalypse frontman Nathan Explosion gave a press junket in which he exclaimed, "the recession is an asshole."

Dethklok proceeded to spend their billions of dollars on bullshit like a floating house, new airplanes, and the most expensive cocert venue in the world. All because they were absentmindedly determined to pull the world out of the recession. At the end of the episode they were broke and were unable to function in a life without a bottomless bank account - but that's the humorous twist. The point is that even a stupid cartoon meant for office workers who come home and burn down a whole weed forest at night knows how to pull a country out of a recession - you make stuff.

Out economy has been forged into one focused on service and money make from efficiencies derived from industry "protocol" over the last twenty years. As soon as digital communication was simple enough to keep track of billions of dollars of goods shipping around the world at any given time, and without a tax code to prevent it, we were free to outsource whatever we saw fit. The economy of the United States subsequently became one of service: servicing those who outsourced, servicing those who shuttled outsource goods around, and servicing those who worked in the service economy. We no longer needed, and still don't need, to build anything on our own soil.

Things that could not be outsourced were streamlined or made autrociously cheap; mainly housing and American cars. Health care is the only industry in our country that remains bloated and actually making money - ironically the one industry which I'd argue should not be making any money as it as a humanitarian effort. But I digress...

So there's one reason that we don't manufacture here anymore; outsourcing is easier and cheaper. The detriment of that is of course a loss of jobs. This has been a problem for years. Additionally, and possibly more importantly, it has lessened the general cost of goods and thusly made the more disposable. Fifty years ago I'm fairly certain that, "oh it's broken, I'll just get a new one" wasn't a terribly common household phrase. We don't repair things and keep them anymore. They are cheap and easily replacable. This means that China and Taiwan get to sell more goods to us and we don't have to worry about how cheaply they're made. Even worse, we don't have to worry about how they're made.

We've forgotten how to repair things, we've forgotten how to manufacture, our plants with which we do manufacture are in disrepair or gone, we've forgotten why engineering is important and why it should be a nationalistic endeavor. Innovation and improvement of proceesses and products are only important when your engineers are making these things.

I feel a bit bad, saying all this about how engineers are so important and manufacturing is so great, without being able to say that I've contributed something myself. I can't say that, I haven't, I haven't had a damned idea for an invention of anything like that in my life. My function is to sit here, mull over issues, and type them out. And sometimes get a spreadsheet or two going. I am a perfect example of a service worker. I couldn't produce a good if my life fucking depended on it.

If the world's most popular band asked our country to make them a floating house, new airplane powered by lasers, and bionic dogs or something...would we even be able to? I'd hope so, if national demand calls, supply better come following shortly behind.