Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring • Hacker News Board

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#231

Post by 9rx » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

lanthissa wrote: post #218

pepperball wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are plenty of good paying non-backbreaking jobs for Americans but they just don't seem to believe it. Where at?

you can get a job as a long haul truck driver in texas with no education and paid for training paying 80-100k and live in an area where houses cost 300k, within 5 years starting from zero with no education you can own a home and have a nest egg big enough to become an owner operator or invest in a small business. so thats the floor for anyone willing to put in a few years of work.

It says non-backbreaking. Truck driving is one of the highest risk jobs towards one's back.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#232

Post by mothballed » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

potato3732842 wrote: post #226

mothballed wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The jobs also generally suck. I've worked a wide array of blue collar jobs and manufacturing I always found some of the worst, even worse than stuff like general labor building houses or working on fishing trawlers in the Bering sea because at least that stuff wasn't nearly as rote. You stand at a machine doing the same fucking thing over and over. Do one thing wrong, your finger gets chopped up -- you think that sou…

Because in a lot of people's minds having ~1/1000 of your coworkers killed for every decade you work at the factory still sucks less than taking orders from some algorithm crafted in a downtown office by someone who wants to exploit you at best and hates you and your way of life at worst.

In the factory you get both. With essentially zero chance to change the algorithm. When my father worked in the factory he found a way to manufacture the product faster and cheaper and just as safely, and rearranged the factory to do so. He was punished by management for altering the algorithm and also ostracized by fellow workers because they perceived it as reducing the demand for jobs.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#233

Post by themaninthedark » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #207

afavour wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manufacturing in particular... it's very easy for folks to say we should bring those jobs back to the US but people are often shocked when confronted with the prices of items manufactured in the US. I don't say that to dismiss the thought but it would be a lot more difficult for folks to swallow than they think it would be.

The jobs also generally suck. I've worked a wide array of blue collar jobs and manufacturing I always found some of the worst, even worse than stuff like general labor building houses or working on fishing trawlers in the Bering sea because at least that stuff wasn't nearly as rote. You stand at a machine doing the same fucking thing over and over. Do one thing wrong, your finger gets chopped up -- you think that sou…

There are some people who like the rote work. You and I may not but some of the people I talk to like that they can basically "turn their thinking off" and get paid.

>Do one thing wrong, your finger gets chopped up This should not be possible in the US. OSHA is still in existence(you could argue that the future state is unknown)

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/19... >1910.212(a)(1) >Types of guarding. One or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Examples of guarding methods are - barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.

> a stamping machine has all its safeties break because maintenance didn't maintain them right. When the safety on a machine fails, the machine should stop. If it does not, then the safety was not installed correctly.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#234

Post by UncleMeat » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

itsyonas wrote: post #38

blitzar wrote: post #3

He is free to give back some of his $150bn anytime.

I do think that this is at the heart of the problem. The issue is not an overall lack of wealth, but how it is distributed. This is not going to change, no matter how many data centres or factories are built in the US. Ultimately, all the wealth will still end up in the hands of a select few. Not to mention that we are already exceeding a number of planetary boundaries, which endanger humans. The ever-growing demand…

Yep. The structural incentives for the bosses don't change when their employees are assembling cars or treating patients or serving coffee or writing code. Power is tipped towards capital and against labor. The owners extract wealth, which tips the scales further. Labor organizing has been kneecapped in this country and it will only get worse (there is an ongoing case trying to get basically the entire NLRB declared unconstitutional).

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#235

Post by filloooo » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

I think people are ignoring the reciprocity in the global trading system.

People and news articles always talk about goods trade deficits for rich countries, but never their almost universal services trade surpluses, and the profit margins are vastly different.

For manufacturing, a large part of the revenue goes to materials costs, but for services, almost all of it are net incomes.

Yes you can bring back manufacturing jobs, but your services surpluses would also shrink, because when you don't open your market, countries were not obligated to let you reap profits there too.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#236

Post by naasking » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:59 PM UTC

p_j_w wrote: post #194

naasking wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not sending production to the place with the cheapest labour is great way to have your companies being outcompeted by foreign actors. Or it's a great way to spur innovation in automation, which has other beneficial downstream effects. This is what people always seem to forget to consider, and I don't know why.

The world has seen dizzying levels of innovation over the last 100 years. It’s STILL cheaper to outsource for huge swathes of manufacturing.

Sure, because of legislation. And legislative changes could undo that advantage and thus spur more innovation.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#237

Post by StopDisinfo910 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 4:59 PM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #210

brightball wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manufacturing jobs bring the entire supply chain of the manufacturer with them. The area where I live, Greenville, SC used to be the textile capital of the world and then became essentially destitute when the entire industry offshored. BMW and Michelin locating their US HQ here essentially rebuilt this entire corner of the state with jobs and associated supply chains. Now, Greenville is booming with a more diverse ec…

So European companies brought new jobs and prosperity to Greenville, SC, and the local Americans thanked Europe by voting 60% for Trump in the last election. How do you explain that? Why do the locals vote against the countries that provide them the jobs? Are you also pro-Trump because you live in that town?

They extended their operations there because Biden lured them with insane subsidies.

Don't commit the mistake of thinking Trump politics is a rupture from what came before when it comes to how the US treats Europe.

It's been economic aggression after economic aggression from both parties since Obama. Different styles, same core ideas.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#238

Post by naasking » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 5:01 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #188

naasking wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Moving to the government/taxes paying for it doesn't fix that. It kinda does, bigger players have more bargaining power. There is no bigger player than the government in a universal healthcare system. Furthermore, a significant cost in healthcare is all of the bureaucracy around billing. Much of that goes away with single payer.

It would be very tough to reduce pay for doctors and other staff. The United States medical industry is one of the highest paying in the world.

Doctor and nurses are not bureaucrats. Single payer would significantly reduce the bureaucracy in healthcare, and simplify everything for citizens and businesses.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#239

Post by mothballed » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

themaninthedark wrote: post #233

mothballed wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The jobs also generally suck. I've worked a wide array of blue collar jobs and manufacturing I always found some of the worst, even worse than stuff like general labor building houses or working on fishing trawlers in the Bering sea because at least that stuff wasn't nearly as rote. You stand at a machine doing the same fucking thing over and over. Do one thing wrong, your finger gets chopped up -- you think that sou…

There are some people who like the rote work. You and I may not but some of the people I talk to like that they can basically "turn their thinking off" and get paid. >Do one thing wrong, your finger gets chopped up This should not be possible in the US. OSHA is still in existence(you could argue that the future state is unknown) https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/19... >1910.212(a)(1) >Types of…

Sounds nice but not reality. The price of paying out a finger every few years is a lot cheaper than paying for maintenance and safety equipment.

Re: Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

#240

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

runako wrote: post #36

There are so many underlying changes to the established relationship between Labor and Capital in the US that would be a necessary part of keeping jobs here that it would effectively make us a completely different country. For example -- suppose one could snap one's fingers and "bring back" millions of manufacturing jobs. What would lead one to conclude those would be the kind of "good jobs" everyone is envisioning?…

> Historically, they were better jobs due to a strong labor movement, but that movement has been largely destroyed.

There's something to be said that the labor movement was destroyed by eliminating the need for the labor. Bringing the labor back would see the labor movement return.