“creating jobs is not an essential business function, only making money is“. John Kozy.

I just heard, on Stephen Colbert, that CNN is laying off 50 editors and photojournalists because it is relying on iReport! Not that the death of magazine/journalism/etc is , uh, news. But, seriously, what sort of jobs are left anymore?

Music bands no longer make money. No one buys music anymore, and there is even more content than before. It’s good for indies, but, overall, no-one accumulates enough sales to cover even basic living costs. Record stores are extinct.

Photo labs are dead–thanks to digital photography–as is photography as a professions. Photojournalism is barely there, thanks to all the cell-phone cameras et al.

Journalism is dead. Magazine and newspapers barely survive, and there is an increasing number of news/analysis sources.

Writing is dead. Publishing was never viable, and it is even less so now. Everyone writes, and no one reads. No one wants to pay; and, frankly, most is not worth reading! It was always the domain of those who did not have to work 12 hours a day to pay their expenses, and it is even more so now.

Even computing has been hit. Software engineering has mostly been shipped offshore; the meagre remainder is populated with H1-Bs or assorted desparate people working for less than a tradesman is paid. And some computing jobs have been eliminated by computers: remember “webmasters”, “HTML programmers”?

Customer service takes place in either India, or via software eg IVR.

Bank tellers are now ATMs, or it is all done via a website.

Retail is dead. It is all big-box stores, or online sites. The little guy can’t compete.

Small manufacturing is dead. It is all in China. I remember even countries like Indonesia being deemed too expensive for textile production, once China opened up!

Couriers got hit with the fax machine, and now with email and video. Post offices, too, are barely surviving/relevant anymore.

Medical clerks are getting replaced through computer automation.

Many secretarial jobs have been reduced or eliminated through computer automation.

Cartoons/animation is now mostly computerized. Just look at how ugly the Family Guy show looks!

Even phone companies (which have benefitted from the focus on Internet telecommunication) have had their cuts, too.

I remember, when I was a kid, I had a comic book which showed how the world was going to be in the year 2000. Jet-packs and flying cars aside, a significant aspect of such visions was that no one needed to work anymore. Automation had eliminated the need. Now, it seems to me that we have nearly reached that point, (even the wretched in China can be saved from the burden,) but money is somehow still needed. Subsistence work has been eliminated from the system, but pricing has remained.