I have a friend with a great story

I have a friend with a great story. He helped an older man who owned a very primitive factory producing liqueurs. The man took a shine to him and, when he retired, gave him the business. It’s a 350-year-old company with a well-known reputation, but the original owner made everything by hand and produced only a tiny amount.

My friend took over, borrowed some money, and automated the entire operation. Now, just he and his wife run a fairly large business—fully automated, extremely clean. They don’t need any employees. They feed in the bottles and ingredients at one end, and out the other comes the best liqueur you’ve ever tasted.

Of course, he has to understand how to manage the machines, the recipes, and continuous improvements. But essentially, he handles production, and his wife handles sales. They have lots of free time to spend with each other and with their children.

If they were trying to manage the ten employees it would take to replace the machines, they’d have less money and far less time. They’d be bogged down in the stress of managing low-skill workers.

Another friend of mine—a young man—started a company producing a wide range of wood products: furniture, retail displays, heavy-duty shelving for stores and shopping centers. He also automated almost his entire factory. He got rid of 75% of his workforce. Now he produces better quality products, faster and cheaper. And he doesn’t have to deal with as many laborers. The only people he kept are the skilled ones.

Skilled labor—especially the kind needed to maintain and improve automated systems—will increase in value. But unskilled labor is quickly becoming obsolete.

This is why mass deportation, repatriation, and re-migration of the unskilled labor force we’ve imported over the past 40 years is absolutely necessary. There is simply no future for these people in a first-world, automated economy.