First Impressions

I was hoping Brennen would begin so I could have something to attack, but alas, having a kid takes priority. We hope to hear from you again once you start sleeping through the night. For Evan and his Kindle, the new schedule with chapters has been uploaded but is now at the bottom of the page rather than the side because it is was too large.

My initial reaction to the book is a strong disagreement with what I think Vonnegut is trying to portray. 70 pages in, it seems like Vonnegut is making a prediction in the year 1952 of what he believes the post-WWII economy is going to look like. Basically, machines will do all the work with a few managers and engineers running them, with the rest of the masses unemployed and helpless to succeed. Looking at society 60 years later is strong evidence against his prediction. Machines have increased productivity and created numerous new industries. Thank goodness we will all have jobs that look very different than the majority of jobs pre-WWII (mostly factory and agricultural). The internet alone has created countless new types of jobs and many of the world's largest companies.

So, I would have to strongly disagree with the Vonnegut's future where only engineers and managers make a living. His other argument, again, seems to be that it leaves the rest of society, or laborers, struggling for existence and eternally bitter towards machines and management. Does this ring true to any of you? I don't believe this is a problem in the US. Unless you are a deadbeat, you can find a decent job even after your car factory in Detroit closes. You may have to move and make less than the union offered, but there are plenty of opportunities to make a living wage in our country. I can see a good debate on this phenomenon when comparing US vs. other nations. Dependency theory would argue that many countries primarily export raw materials. Most of these markets are commoditized and offer minimal, cyclical profits. We take these products, add value, and sell them across the globe creating massive wealth for our country. We then buy up the most productive assets across the globe and the dependency grows stronger. This is getting ahead of where we are in the book, but could make for an interesting discussion.