Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. took the floor to speak on what he believes is one major cause of unemployment in America…the iPad.
“A few short weeks ago I came to the House floor after having purchased an iPad and said that I happened to believe, Mr. Speaker, that at some point in time this new device, which is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs. Now Borders is closing stores because, why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad and download your newspaper, download your book, download your magazine.”
Later in the speech, he talks about how Chicage State University is giving out iPads instead of textbooks. President Wayne Watson wants to go textbookless campus within 4 years. He goes on to talk about all the lost jobs related to the publishing industry.
There are a few reasons why this speech is odd, the first being that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. owns an iPad and was just seen on the House floor promoting it. What’s even more interesting is that he also touted the merits of Kindle, iPad, and other tablet devices in education.
“Let me be clear about a few things,” Jackson said, brandishing both an Apple iPad and an Amazon Kindle on the House floor. “These devices are revolutionizing our country — and they will fundamentally alter how we will educate our children.”
Jackson said he wants to amend the Constitution so that it guarantees every American the right to an equal education, which means an iPad, Kindle, or Nook for every schoolchild.
There is a valid point in that the iPad is made in China, so nobody in the US is making a wage for putting them together, but does that mean their bad? I’m pretty sure most technology is manufactured outside of the US.
Technology inevitably advances and jobs change. Even if we assume the iPad is directly responsible for lost jobs in America, do we make moves to try and stop technological advances? Doesn’t seem to make much sense. I have to agree with Wayne Sutton:
Also as the publishing industry has been under “attack” from the decline in newspaper sales and more, changes must happen for the industry to continue. It’s called innovation and adoption. It’s what the New York Times is doing with their apps and why we have new apps like the Daily. Also not to mention how much money Apple has allowed for developers to make. If I’m a publisher or write or in the publishing industry I would have been thinking about mobile like… 4 years ago.
What do you think? Is the iPad a job killer? What should we do about it? Watch the complete video at RealClearPolitics.
source RealClearPolitics, TheHill via SocialWayne