Mark Cuban wants Trump to invest $100 billion in robotics

[William Gayde]

Leading up to the election, Mark Cuban had been very vocal about his disapproval of President-Elect Donald Trump. It appears he's put that all behind him in a request to Trump to focus on the robotics industry. Trump's campaign rhetoric was centered on making America great again, including being a leader in manufacturing. Cuban, the outspoken tech mogul and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has never been afraid to change sides if it means a good deal. Writing on his personal blog, Cuban wants to ensure that robotics is one of the areas that America leads in.

Donald Trump has proposed a $1 trillion spending plan to improve America's crumbling infrastructure. Trump has not laid out many specifics of this plan, but Cuban has implored him to spend $100 billion or 10% on robotics. Just like Trump wants to win at trade, Cuban clearly wants America to win the robotics race.

As part of the sweeping infrastructure improvements, Cuban's plan would invest in all facets of the industry from R&D to software and design. Citing examples like the electric car and solar industries, Cuban outlined how there are currently no major robotics companies based in the US.

After government subsidies helped boost those industries, America is now a leading manufacturer of solar panels and electric cars. European and Asian governments currently offer billions in credits to support robotics with China currently spends $3 billion a year while the US only spends $100 million.

Policies on robotics have been tough in the past because it undoubtedly means there will be job loss of some form or potentially so. Cuban's view is for infrastructure spending to look forwards, even if it means the short term loss of jobs. He believes winning the robotics race would mean success in the long term.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67454-mark-cuban-wants-trump-invest-100-billion-robotics.html

 

[Uncle Al]

This will be interesting. With the events at that Indianapolis plant and the suggestion of future replacement of most workers with robotics, will Trump fall into this political trap? If he invests that much into worker retraining, the impact will be far more favorable among voters rather than industrialists that can pay their own way ....

 

[mbrowne5061]

"No major robotics companies in the U.S."

What do you call iRobot? They sell more Roombas in Japan than Sony does with their competing device. An American company outselling a Japanese company in Japan is unheard of. On top of that, Boston Dynamics also has the IP on the best legged-robot designs.

We may not have Mitsubishi or Toyota's manufacturing 'robotics', but at the end of the day, those are just fancy 6-axis welders and riveters. Some fancy mechatronics, but not a whole lot of autonomous behavior going on there.

 

[Greg S]

I think it's pretty clear that the US is not a leader for industrial robotics. We are decent at factory automation products, just not the robotics themselves.

 

[Axle Grease]

He's got his hand out already.

This will be interesting. With the events at that Indianapolis plant and the suggestion of future replacement of most workers with robotics, will Trump fall into this political trap? If he invests that much into worker retraining, the impact will be far more favorable among voters rather than industrialists that can pay their own way ....

The Japanese fell into this "political trap" long ago. Where did the workers go that did what robots do now?

 

[Axle Grease]

Mark Cuban owns many companies. There are about eighty I can find. Guess how many are robotics companies?

Yes, that's right. NONE! But it's OK if taxpayers are made to shoulder the risk.

 

[mbrowne5061]

He's got his hand out already.

The Japanese fell into this "political trap" long ago. Where did the workers go that did what robots do now?

The Japanese have a rapidly aging, and declining total population. Their robots are replacing their workforce as it retires, and the younger population is going into the service industries instead of manual labor industries. Japan is literally saving their economy through automation, and this is part of the reason why the Yen is so stable and considered a regional 'shelter' currency.

 

[MonsterZero]

The Japanese have a rapidly aging, and declining total population. Their robots are replacing their workforce as it retires, and the younger population is going into the service industries instead of manual labor industries. Japan is literally saving their economy through automation, and this is part of the reason why the Yen is so stable and considered a regional 'shelter' currency.

Shh, you'll anger the Trumpsters, P.S. Don't tell them this is what Trump really mean't by bringing jobs back, that would be unpresidented!

 

[MonsterZero]

He's got his hand out already.

This will be interesting. With the events at that Indianapolis plant and the suggestion of future replacement of most workers with robotics, will Trump fall into this political trap? If he invests that much into worker retraining, the impact will be far more favorable among voters rather than industrialists that can pay their own way ....

The Japanese fell into this "political trap" long ago. Where did the workers go that did what robots do now?

They got jobs in engineering and mechanical repair to maintain the robot fleet I'm sure. Better to be working ON the robots then trying to do the job they replaced.

 

[Axle Grease]

He's got his hand out already.

This will be interesting. With the events at that Indianapolis plant and the suggestion of future replacement of most workers with robotics, will Trump fall into this political trap? If he invests that much into worker retraining, the impact will be far more favorable among voters rather than industrialists that can pay their own way ....

The Japanese fell into this "political trap" long ago. Where did the workers go that did what robots do now?

They got jobs in engineering and mechanical repair to maintain the robot fleet I'm sure. Better to be working ON the robots then trying to do the job they replaced.

The question was a rhetorical one for Uncle Al, but got good answers from others. My thinking was that workers would move on to do other things. If automation is bad for industry then anything that was steam powered was bad, or anything with hydraulics was bad. It's all labour saving devices which end up making products cheaper for everyone. Automation has never led to unemployment or the death of an industry. Unions and government regulation can do that all by themselves. Still, the risk to invest in automation should be shouldered by willing investors and not captive financiers, namely taxpayers. When it's your own money, you will be far more careful where to invest it.

 

[ubiteme]

While I agree that the country should advance itself with hi-tech robots, don't you think that would undermine Trump's promise that is to bring jobs back to America? Mr. Cuban may think that in a good faith for the country, but he obviously careless about the people who need jobs, real jobs in this country, I guess?

 

[mbrowne5061]

While I agree that the country should advance itself with hi-tech robots, don't you think that would undermine Trump's promise that is to bring jobs back to America? Mr. Cuban may think that in a good faith for the country, but he obviously careless about the people who need jobs, real jobs in this country, I guess?

America's unemployment rate has been steadily falling since it's peak during the last recession. The jobs added have been in the services sector, and not the manual labor sectors though. Manual labor is dying. Even Foxconn is laying workers off because they're being replaced with robots. The manual laborers who lost their job during the recession though it would eventually come back, but the job didn't get shipped away, it got eliminated all together.

The smarter move would be re-training in a new profession in one of the service industries, and to stop fetishizing the idea of manual labor jobs being "real" jobs. They are neither better nor worse than any other job when it comes to honor, but they are in decline.