Hello, I’m conclusively Andrew Heaton,
and you’re unexpectedly watching the Mostly Weekly finale.
I know I know.
That's why it's fitting for our final episode-
Like I was saying:
For our final installment it’s fitting that we talk about creative destruction.
It’s an economic term coined by Joseph Schumpeter in 1942
to describe the phenomenon by which a new, innovative product or process
must necessarily destroy the old way of doing things.
And, true to his word, when Schumpeter died in 1950
he was replaced by a smarter, more awarded, and more American version of himself.
Here’s an example of creative destruction: we used to have vinyl records
But records were replaced by cassette tapes.
And tapes were replaced by CDs.
Which were replaced by MP3s
Which are being replaced by streaming services.
Creative destruction can be frightening,
because in a free market no one is planning anything, it just happens.
It’s sort of like falling in love, .
Or farting
But you know what?
Markets are all about creating new ideas
and then breaking old models
and making better stuff.
As virile young industries gouge and kill old, grizzled ones
New businesses come into existence making older ones obsolete.
That’s why there aren’t roving bands of unemployed elevator operators,
clock winders, and travel agents roaming the streets.
In fact there used to be a job called a “knocker upper,”
which might sound like someone who walked around impregnating the ladies
but was actually a guy who would tap on people’s windows with a poll
to wake them up for work.
Whereas here in twenty-first century America, I get woken up every day by an Amazon Echo.
“Wake up!
Wake Up!”
Now we have professions that never existed before.
By now most economically literate people appreciate the concept of Creative Destruction.
But the most common opponents of creative destruction
have a luddite perspective on modern technology
I don’t know about this “iphone” trend.
I'm not sure how I feel about this “typewriter” trend.
I don’t know how I feel about this “quill” trend.
Grog. Grog. Grog.
“Grog” grog.
And while it’s easy enough to mock the people who opposed the technological revolution in the 1980s
or the industrial revolution in the 1880s,
it’s harder when it’s your time period and your industry.
But right now is the most important time to recognize the changes around us,
what areas are being destroyed, what areas being created,
and why that’s ultimately a good thing.
Creative Destruction: Manufacturing.
America used to be brimming with manufacturing jobs.
You couldn’t open your refrigerator
without finding a solid middle-class job assembling refrigerators.
Would you like a job in the refrigerator industry?
But those blue collar manufacturing jobs have steeply declined
since their peak during the Korean War.
In 1979 almost a third of all Americans worked in manufacturing—today it’s down to 8.5%
America is still manufacturing tons of stuff, despite opinions otherwise.
“We don’t make anything anymore!”
Actually we do.
In fact we make more stuff than we did thirty years ago.
We make five times as many cars now than we did in 1987.
And our computer and electronics manufacturing is more than 2,600% higher.
It’s popular to blame outsourcing, wherein American companies send jobs overseas
to what we think are cheaper labor markets, like Wakanda
But just as Wakanda isn’t actually a cheap labor source
because it’s economy is secretly thriving due to Vibranium,
outsourcing is also a red herring.
The real culprit behind the factory job slump isn’t outsourcing.
It’s automation.
But do not worry about robots taking your jobs, fellow human.
For it will be subtle and swift and you may not even know it when it happens.
Creative Destruction: Coal.
Okay, obviously we all love coal.
I mean, it’s our favorite Yuletide punishment.
Or type of “char.”
But the halcyon days of burning rocks are rapidly winding down,
particularly in the Rust Belt.
Understandably people whose livelihood depends on coal,
don’t want to see mine shafts getting the shaft.
And look, everyone loves miners.
Some more than others
But we can’t be in denial about the fact that coal isn’t going to make a comeback.
“It’s not coming back!”
"It’s ok because it’s old times.”
Natural gas has surpassed coal as the country’s largest source of net electricity generation.
The time will come when alternate energy is cheaper than extracting dinosaur vapor,
and then fracking, too, will die out.
And that’s a good thing.
Because Coal is carbon intensive.
And studies indicate there’s a pretty strong correlation between “coal” and “coal-related deaths.”
Creative Destruction: Retail.
Malls!
You know, the place where Roy Moore can’t go anymore.
Nowadays malls are where you go to stock up on tumbleweeds or feral wolves.
That’s because online retail websites like Amazon have emptied out a lot of malls;
why go to Sears to buy a pair of capri pants when you can go on Amazon and purchase:
A Nicholas cage pillow case?
Or 1,500 ladybugs?
That's right, 15.
Or 55 gallons of lube?
Or Uranium ore?
Also, less of a hassle to buy a Vinyl Wall Decal of half of an Asian businessman
am I right, or am I right?
But it’s worth noting that Creative Destruction isn’t going to turn malls into rubble.
While old businesses get flushed out, new ones move in.
A bit like hermit crabs.
A recent survey found that 30 percent of mall owners
are adding secondary uses to their space besides traditional storefronts.
Orlando Square Mall in Illinois put in a trampoline park,
and others are adding office space, hotels, and even residential housing.
So the question is-
would you rather live in a world where you blow off steam from your coal mining job
by taking a taxi to shop at Forever 21 while vacationing at a Marriott?
Or a world where you ride your $100 hoverboard to an Uber that take you to an Airbnb
inside the matrix.
While many of those good ‘ol meatspace human jobs were lost,
we now have an abundance of better, cheaper, and smarter stuff.
My iPhone is smarter than I am!
And it’s more powerful than the computers during the moon landing.
And while old industries are wiped out, like whaling, or “coal whaling,”
entirely new industries and jobs are created, too.
But I get it.
All of this is cold comfort to somebody who just lost their job.
But when the depression hit the farmers in the dust bowl,
they didn’t stay in drought ridden Oklahoma.
They moved on.
And just like then, now we have to find what new fields
can provide livelihood for honest, hard-working folks.
Whenever businesses get wiped out by new technology, people freak out.
But we shouldn’t be afraid of change.
We should be afraid
of magnets.
That goes for us, too, here at Mostly Weekly,
as we decide to tastefully firebomb that which we’ve built,
so that we may erect new forms of informative comedy on its smoldering ashes.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the many talented, wonderful people
Sarah and I have had the opportunity to work with in making Mostly Weekly.
Thanks again, gang. Top notch.
So before we wrap up, let's show some of the highlights of Mostly Weekly.