There is no defensible reason for humans to go to the moon. I'd be much more interested in a study of the cost and time frame of a colonization mission (one way) to Mars. That is the next home of mankind. Any other mission in space can be achieved faster and more economically by machines.
With a porous border, it hardly matters..
Oh I'm no Luddite and hardly a peasant.
Hmmm. Now that you mention it, perhaps I am beginning to feel a bit socialist. And so will the unemployed masses in a robot filled world. Adopt a Star Trek economic system (post scarcity) BEFORE the pitch forks come out.
This is ok as long as society either
1. Stops increasing the population and/or
2. Redistributes wealth so that the new unemployed can live and find creative and entertaining ways to spend their lives.
else: Revolution
The study concluded that productivity increased while hours worked stayed the same. As the human population grows and automation increases, it's not enough that jobs are not lost. New jobs must be created.
In the absence of robots, the higher level of production would have meant new jobs, but that is not longer the case. In effect, a job not created is a job lost.
Moridineas : "LIght rail seems unlikely to substantially change any of the numbers"
There are two reason why light rail matters:
1. You are correct about suburbanization in Durham and Chapel Hill (Not in Carrboro because it is built out)
As population and traffic increases, travel slows down on roads. But light rail does not slow down as passenger volumes increase. It's easy to add more cars to the train. So the more pressure there is for transportation, the bigger advantage light rail has. Light rail gets MORE economical as demand increases.
2. Development is already beginning to aggregate around the announced light rail stations, even though the system will not begin to operate until 2026. If development is randomly dispersed, centralization of transportation is difficult. But if you plan your transportation system in advance rather than just reacting to the sprawl, development will adjust to maximize use of transit.
I frequently ride public transit in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. It is the largest fare free system in the US. It is used by many people but growth in usage depends on many factors. Park and Ride lots make a big difference for people who live outside of town and must drive to get even close to their destination. Sidewalks make a difference because people who live close enough to walk to a bus stop have to have a safe place to walk. The Chapel Hill buses have bike carriers on the front so that bike riders can take the bus for part of their trip.
But one of the biggest factor is how easy it is to find parking. Cities use a huge amount of their space just to store cars during the day. The more expensive and hard to find parking becomes, the more people will use free public transit.
And all of this takes time. People have to adjust to the new reality of bus transportation being easier and cheaper than owning and driving a car. Over time, people will make decisions about where to live based in part on the presence of public transit. And if businesses also locate in areas served by transit, then it's easier for people to live and work on a transit line.
Your comments remind me of Julia Roberts in the film "Pretty Woman".
"I say where, I say when, I say who." Yep, that's a contractor alright.
" 1099 contractors often work the same hours and conditions as employees, in a desk next to employees, indistinguishable from employees, for some fixed duration."
I'm aware that happens lgw, but that's not what the law says. So it is a game. In any particular state, depending on the political leanings of the legislature or the opinion of the current US Atty. Gen, the "contracting company" may get away with it for awhile. But the law and the clear meaning of the words "contractor" and "employee" make clear what a farce this is.
" the time & place are agreed upon between contractor & client on a per-instance basis."
If the "contractor" is working on a defined time and place basis for the same client (Uber) over and over and does NOT work for any other client (Lyft) , then that "contractor" is an employee.
Based on your definition, there are no employees at all anywhere. If you are a bank teller and you agree about time and place of each customer interaction on a per-instance basis, are you a contractor? I'm sure banks could create an app that would direct a customer to the next teller if you didn't accept the assignment. But that's not the meaning of "contractor".
If instead you are an employee of a bank teller company, they could provide your services to the bank on a contractor basis. But you, yourself would not be the contractor.
Straif, if you were working on my kitchen as a contractor, you would not continue to work on my kitchen after the work was finished. You would do a particular piece of work and move on. That is a sign of a contractor. Uber drivers finish a piece of work (driving a customer to a location) and then take another piece of work from Uber and another and another. That is a sign of an employee.
The critical point is that the driver is working for Uber and not the customer. So the driver has persistent employment with Uber.
Aaden42: "The time & place situation muddies the contractor status, but that's not unheard of in 1099. "I need this done by 5pm!" is still a valid 1099 gig. (You can bet you're getting my "you pissed me off and I don't like you" rate, but...) That's the time covered. Say I'm contracting to do hardware maintenance for a company, then it's, "We need you here by 5pm!" Time & place, but still clearly contractor status."
If the employer tells you every day that you need to be there at 5 PM, then you are an employee. If your continued association with the employer is dependent on constantly meeting a time and place requirement, you are an employee. I think, rather than showing that Uber drivers are contractors, you are showing that many supposed contractors are really not contractors at all. This is a common game played by employers who don't want to pay social security, workers comp, minimum wage, etc. But it's not working in the courts. That's why Uber is now calling for a 3rd classification.
If a driver accepts a particular piece of work (i.e. drive a particular customer), that work must be done at a time and place which is defined by Uber. A contractor would be able to do the work at the time and place of the contractors choosing. That's why car rides don't fit the contractor model.
The illusion that the assignment is coming from the customer is part of the confusion. The assignment comes from Uber via the app. Yes, a driver can accept for reject a particular piece of work, but the time and place (and the standards that apply to the driving) are all decided by Uber.
If you want to test my logic, just imaging that an Uber driver accepts the piece of work but then decides that he/she will perform the work half an hour later and will drive to a different place that that requested by Uber. If that is not ok, then this is not contractor work. The driver is an employee.
What you say is true gcnaddict. But at an even more fundamental level, the app which is used by the driver is controlled by Uber. The customer may use an app to submit their request to Uber but it is Uber that passes that to the driver. There is no direct connection between customer and driver. If there were, Uber could be cut out of the revenue stream. If Uber takes the money, Uber must take responsibility for the work assignment. And if Uber is responsible for the work assignment (time and place), the driver is not a contractor.
Work continues in this area. -- DEC's SPR-Answering-Automaton
