Trump won because he won a hundred and
seven thousand votes in three Rust Belt
states is that a fluke you know it isn’t
a fluke geography matters in United
States politics so if you look at the
2016 electoral college map what you see
is blue coasts blue dots but an ocean an
ocean of red in between Clinton of
course won the popular vote but that’s
not what matters and the Electoral
College overweights
the votes of rural and Rust Belt whites
and so does this Senate because the
state with the least population and the
state with the most population they both
just get two senators and state
legislators also matter a tremendous
amount in the US Republicans currently
hold 33 if they hold one more they could
actually call a constitutional
convention and state legislatures of
course they control redistricting which
determines control of the House of
Representatives and state legislatures
also have a very profound effect on
American public policy so for example in
that ocean of red 80% of American
counties have no abortion provider not a
single one so ignoring the ocean of red
it just isn’t working we voted with our
middle finger said one Trump South
Carolina voter this is what’s been
called the rage or revenge of the white
working-class what happened
it reflects the economic pain of rural
and Rust Belt Americans so Clinton won
actually fewer than 500 counties but
those counties represent two-thirds of
economic activity in the US Trump won
over 2600
counties but those counties they
represent only a third of economic
activity here’s what happened we did
globalization wrong and the result was
the hollowing out of the American middle
class and to statistics really say it
all wages used to rise when productivity
did until the 1970s you know if that’s
still held true today wages would be
double what they are and the result is
that you have for many American families
the demise of the American Dream so
virtually all Americans born in the
1940s did better than their parents but
today it’s actually less than half and
many Americans fear things will get
worse
76 percent of Americans believe that
automation will worsen economic
inequality so who’s providing an
explanation for all of this
well Breitbart is why did we lose good
jobs they went overseas because of trade
treaties why are the new jobs so low pay
it’s because immigrants are driving down
wages and what’s the solution a huge tax
cut for the wealthy job creators oh this
is taking American politics to some
pretty dark places you know there was a
study an hour of blue-collar guys around
New York City in the 1990s and they
found that they were actually quite
positive towards immigrants hard workers
just like us and environmental issues
used to command very broad bipartisan
appeal in the 1970s and 1980s what
flipped both issues was that they were
connected to the loss of jobs so what
role can Silicon Valley play in turning
this around and here I’m going to rely
on
study of the politics of Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs by a group at Stanford
Silicon Valley has an odd combination in
some ways it’s to the left of the left
similar to Democratic donors very
liberal on social issues on
environmental issues immigration and
redistribution but in other ways it’s
kind of to the right of the right very
similar to Republican donors very
conservative on other issues very
anti-union
for example and in the belief that white
income disparity is okay if that’s
what’s necessary to fuel economic growth
that combination all beliefs is pretty
much guaranteed to really deeply
alienate the white working-class so
let’s look at this issue by issue let’s
start with social issues now Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs are very pro
marriage equality and very pro abortion
rights and that makes sense because it
reflects their felt entitlement to self
development through love and through
work but in blue and pink collar jobs
people don’t feel entitled to
self-development and it’s not an offer
what they seek is stability through
self-discipline the kind that gets you
up every day and to work on time without
an attitude to it often not very
fulfilling job and so they very highly
value the institutions that anchor
self-discipline traditional family
values traditional religion and so the
culture wars that have been going on in
the United States for forty years they
reflect class divisions that division
between self development and self
discipline how about immigration Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs actually think we
should have more immigration and they
don’t think trade treaties
should prioritize American jobs but two
people in that ocean of red looking at
rusting factories that belief just
strikes them as kind of a puzzling and
hurtful lack of social solidarity and
things are made worse by an
unselfconscious double standard so for
example immigrants their dreamers
they’re viewed through a very empathetic
human rights lens but the white
working-class they’re viewed through a
very different lens kind of a neoliberal
the race is to the Swift and you’re not
it Homer Simpson wins stupid and fat and
that also exacerbates the economic duh
the conflict around immigration in this
country let’s look at redistributed
programs here Silicon Valley is quite
idealistic they believe in higher taxes
on the rich and redistributing programs
for the poor but those kinds of
means-tested programs tightly targeted
to the poor they’re very unpopular in
blue-collar families because that means
the poor get benefits and the
blue-collar family is often just a small
notch above get nothing but at a deeper
level working-class whites are very
judgmental of people who take what they
see as handouts so for example Jenifer
Sherman’s study of rural California in
the Central Valley found one family who
had lost a job so they had to sign up
for food stamps for snap they were so
embarrassed at having to take a handout
that they actually drove two hours away
from their house to get and spend the
food stamps and so
in this kind of context things like the
guaranteed annual income which is very
popular in Silicon Valley and very
idealistic would be seen as a
condescending handout and so how can
Silicon Valley connect I mean you’re not
going to gang up on gays and immigrants
and they’re not going to abandon their
concern about climate change what they
can do though is to connect around a
shared value and that shared value is
social honor through work because the
white working-class just want what
Silicon Valley already has which is the
ability to work hard and create a good
life for your family that’s the key
Silicon Valley has to actually care
about creating good jobs for the
two-thirds of Americans who lack college
degrees but you know the first step it’s
a really easy one it’s just to stop
insulting people
so terms like plumbers but flyover
States and they’re just classic insults
that pass for wit and even the Homer
Simpson stereotype stupid and fat and
here literally drooling
we need to lose them all class lers
should be a stigmatized as racial slurs
and then we need to focus on jobs for
those who own companies it’s important
to hire four skills not just four
degrees look I have degrees from Yale
Harvard and MIT so I totally get the
whole Stanford thing I know I know I’m
in Silicon Valley but if you look at
Americans by household income if you
look at the three middle quintiles by
household income only three percent of
those kids
goto highly elite schools so if you’re
hiring only from those schools you’re
hiring from a very narrow range of
families and so there are now a growing
number of companies gap jumpers and
others that will help you identify the
skills that you need and hire through
skills assessments people who have those
skills and Google is with doing much the
same thing focusing on Gil’s skills
assessment and what they’re finding is
that they hire some very bright people
from community college and even who are
just high school grads the second is
really a huge business opportunity and
that’s to create companies that train
today’s workers for tomorrow’s jobs
because according to one estimate 32% of
American workers will have to change
occupational categories as a result of
automation and you know you know and I
know they’re gonna have to change often
more than once two and three times
retrain in the course of a lifetime and
so what’s needed are companies that can
work with local employers to help them
identify the skills they need and
develop certificate programs that the
employers trust a hugely important
social impact business opportunity and
this is important not just for small
companies but for large legacy companies
and here a model is the partnership
between Udacity and AT&T where together
they created open-source – content
available to AT&T workers to train them
for tomorrow’s jobs but in many ways the
most important is to use automation to
up skill jobs and here’s an example in
New York they ran a pilot where they
gave to nurses aides a simple iPad that
was preloaded with 15 health screening
conditions
and that way the aides could do the
health screening and get the information
immediately to doctors what they found
in the pilot is that it improved medical
outcomes it decreased healthcare costs
and properly handled that’s exactly the
kind of upskilling that can bring
someone’s job up to a level where it can
sustain a middle-class wage that’s an
amazingly important model and you know
with things like 3d printing in that
ocean of red people in this room could
be inventing niche products and
companies that would for example be able
to produce customized prosthetics and
sell them from Indiana and that’s
important because about 5% of jobs it’s
true
will be lost to automation and that’s
what we’re mostly hearing about but what
we need to understand is that according
to one estimate 60% of jobs will involve
interaction between humans and robots
and we have to use that new generation
of jobs to upskill them in an important
way and then that company in Indiana
producing those customized prosthetics
they should be able to market them to
the world because 95% of potential
customers are outside of the US and it
used to be the only companies who could
reach those customers were large multi
multinationals but that’s no longer true
today
things like eBay and Etsy they’re just
the beginning what we need is the
invention of new platforms that will
allow that company in Indiana whether
it’s selling prosthetics or customized
blue jeans to reach a very broad range
of customers and there’s some companies
like this but there need to be a lot
more and once there are once you invent
programs for what are now being called
micro multinationals you could be
marketing not just goods but also
services through things like augmented
reality devices for example and through
the use of holograms an electrician in
Alabama can could analyze the problem
with a factory in China and guide locals
on how to fix it all of these new
companies though in the old ones too
need to rethink the notion of core
competencies it sounds so good we only
do what we do best
but what it has become is a way to
justify only caring about creating good
jobs for people at the top of the food
chain you know that didn’t used to be
the philosophy of American business so
for example if you look at Codex
in your report from 1990 on page two a
pace place of pride they talked about
the number of jobs created they even
talked about the amount of wages pay and
benefits paid as one of the key
accomplishments of the company if you
compare the last annual report published
by Apple same place place or prime page
– nothing like that
they talked about their cash position so
we need to add a stakeholder employees
and to recognize that if the company
takes care of the employees the
employees will take care of the
customers and then the customers of
course will take care of of the
shareholders who in turn in a virtuous
circle will take care of the employees
that’s the virtuous circle that we need
to be moving towards and we need to
bring the jobs where the people are
because in that ocean of red they’re not
going to move here any more than we’re
going to move to Alabama
for good and sufficient reasons also
these are two job families they need to
find not just one better job they need
to find two better jobs and they need to
find two jobs that are so much better
that the fact that they’re now going to
be paying for childcare elder care and a
lot of other things that they’re dense
rooted localized network of family and
friends can’t give them any longer for
free they still need to come out I had
they are not going to move but through
all of these new technologies that does
not matter as much now because we can be
creating companies in the heartland
so Silicon Valley in many ways is so
perfectly placed to help drain the venom
from American politics and replace it
with hope you know we did globalization
wrong but let’s do automated that’s how
Silicon Valley can disrupt American
politics thank you
[Applause]
seven thousand votes in three Rust Belt
states is that a fluke you know it isn’t
a fluke geography matters in United
States politics so if you look at the
2016 electoral college map what you see
is blue coasts blue dots but an ocean an
ocean of red in between Clinton of
course won the popular vote but that’s
not what matters and the Electoral
College overweights
the votes of rural and Rust Belt whites
and so does this Senate because the
state with the least population and the
state with the most population they both
just get two senators and state
legislators also matter a tremendous
amount in the US Republicans currently
hold 33 if they hold one more they could
actually call a constitutional
convention and state legislatures of
course they control redistricting which
determines control of the House of
Representatives and state legislatures
also have a very profound effect on
American public policy so for example in
that ocean of red 80% of American
counties have no abortion provider not a
single one so ignoring the ocean of red
it just isn’t working we voted with our
middle finger said one Trump South
Carolina voter this is what’s been
called the rage or revenge of the white
working-class what happened
it reflects the economic pain of rural
and Rust Belt Americans so Clinton won
actually fewer than 500 counties but
those counties represent two-thirds of
economic activity in the US Trump won
over 2600
counties but those counties they
represent only a third of economic
activity here’s what happened we did
globalization wrong and the result was
the hollowing out of the American middle
class and to statistics really say it
all wages used to rise when productivity
did until the 1970s you know if that’s
still held true today wages would be
double what they are and the result is
that you have for many American families
the demise of the American Dream so
virtually all Americans born in the
1940s did better than their parents but
today it’s actually less than half and
many Americans fear things will get
worse
76 percent of Americans believe that
automation will worsen economic
inequality so who’s providing an
explanation for all of this
well Breitbart is why did we lose good
jobs they went overseas because of trade
treaties why are the new jobs so low pay
it’s because immigrants are driving down
wages and what’s the solution a huge tax
cut for the wealthy job creators oh this
is taking American politics to some
pretty dark places you know there was a
study an hour of blue-collar guys around
New York City in the 1990s and they
found that they were actually quite
positive towards immigrants hard workers
just like us and environmental issues
used to command very broad bipartisan
appeal in the 1970s and 1980s what
flipped both issues was that they were
connected to the loss of jobs so what
role can Silicon Valley play in turning
this around and here I’m going to rely
on
study of the politics of Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs by a group at Stanford
Silicon Valley has an odd combination in
some ways it’s to the left of the left
similar to Democratic donors very
liberal on social issues on
environmental issues immigration and
redistribution but in other ways it’s
kind of to the right of the right very
similar to Republican donors very
conservative on other issues very
anti-union
for example and in the belief that white
income disparity is okay if that’s
what’s necessary to fuel economic growth
that combination all beliefs is pretty
much guaranteed to really deeply
alienate the white working-class so
let’s look at this issue by issue let’s
start with social issues now Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs are very pro
marriage equality and very pro abortion
rights and that makes sense because it
reflects their felt entitlement to self
development through love and through
work but in blue and pink collar jobs
people don’t feel entitled to
self-development and it’s not an offer
what they seek is stability through
self-discipline the kind that gets you
up every day and to work on time without
an attitude to it often not very
fulfilling job and so they very highly
value the institutions that anchor
self-discipline traditional family
values traditional religion and so the
culture wars that have been going on in
the United States for forty years they
reflect class divisions that division
between self development and self
discipline how about immigration Silicon
Valley entrepreneurs actually think we
should have more immigration and they
don’t think trade treaties
should prioritize American jobs but two
people in that ocean of red looking at
rusting factories that belief just
strikes them as kind of a puzzling and
hurtful lack of social solidarity and
things are made worse by an
unselfconscious double standard so for
example immigrants their dreamers
they’re viewed through a very empathetic
human rights lens but the white
working-class they’re viewed through a
very different lens kind of a neoliberal
the race is to the Swift and you’re not
it Homer Simpson wins stupid and fat and
that also exacerbates the economic duh
the conflict around immigration in this
country let’s look at redistributed
programs here Silicon Valley is quite
idealistic they believe in higher taxes
on the rich and redistributing programs
for the poor but those kinds of
means-tested programs tightly targeted
to the poor they’re very unpopular in
blue-collar families because that means
the poor get benefits and the
blue-collar family is often just a small
notch above get nothing but at a deeper
level working-class whites are very
judgmental of people who take what they
see as handouts so for example Jenifer
Sherman’s study of rural California in
the Central Valley found one family who
had lost a job so they had to sign up
for food stamps for snap they were so
embarrassed at having to take a handout
that they actually drove two hours away
from their house to get and spend the
food stamps and so
in this kind of context things like the
guaranteed annual income which is very
popular in Silicon Valley and very
idealistic would be seen as a
condescending handout and so how can
Silicon Valley connect I mean you’re not
going to gang up on gays and immigrants
and they’re not going to abandon their
concern about climate change what they
can do though is to connect around a
shared value and that shared value is
social honor through work because the
white working-class just want what
Silicon Valley already has which is the
ability to work hard and create a good
life for your family that’s the key
Silicon Valley has to actually care
about creating good jobs for the
two-thirds of Americans who lack college
degrees but you know the first step it’s
a really easy one it’s just to stop
insulting people
so terms like plumbers but flyover
States and they’re just classic insults
that pass for wit and even the Homer
Simpson stereotype stupid and fat and
here literally drooling
we need to lose them all class lers
should be a stigmatized as racial slurs
and then we need to focus on jobs for
those who own companies it’s important
to hire four skills not just four
degrees look I have degrees from Yale
Harvard and MIT so I totally get the
whole Stanford thing I know I know I’m
in Silicon Valley but if you look at
Americans by household income if you
look at the three middle quintiles by
household income only three percent of
those kids
goto highly elite schools so if you’re
hiring only from those schools you’re
hiring from a very narrow range of
families and so there are now a growing
number of companies gap jumpers and
others that will help you identify the
skills that you need and hire through
skills assessments people who have those
skills and Google is with doing much the
same thing focusing on Gil’s skills
assessment and what they’re finding is
that they hire some very bright people
from community college and even who are
just high school grads the second is
really a huge business opportunity and
that’s to create companies that train
today’s workers for tomorrow’s jobs
because according to one estimate 32% of
American workers will have to change
occupational categories as a result of
automation and you know you know and I
know they’re gonna have to change often
more than once two and three times
retrain in the course of a lifetime and
so what’s needed are companies that can
work with local employers to help them
identify the skills they need and
develop certificate programs that the
employers trust a hugely important
social impact business opportunity and
this is important not just for small
companies but for large legacy companies
and here a model is the partnership
between Udacity and AT&T where together
they created open-source – content
available to AT&T workers to train them
for tomorrow’s jobs but in many ways the
most important is to use automation to
up skill jobs and here’s an example in
New York they ran a pilot where they
gave to nurses aides a simple iPad that
was preloaded with 15 health screening
conditions
and that way the aides could do the
health screening and get the information
immediately to doctors what they found
in the pilot is that it improved medical
outcomes it decreased healthcare costs
and properly handled that’s exactly the
kind of upskilling that can bring
someone’s job up to a level where it can
sustain a middle-class wage that’s an
amazingly important model and you know
with things like 3d printing in that
ocean of red people in this room could
be inventing niche products and
companies that would for example be able
to produce customized prosthetics and
sell them from Indiana and that’s
important because about 5% of jobs it’s
true
will be lost to automation and that’s
what we’re mostly hearing about but what
we need to understand is that according
to one estimate 60% of jobs will involve
interaction between humans and robots
and we have to use that new generation
of jobs to upskill them in an important
way and then that company in Indiana
producing those customized prosthetics
they should be able to market them to
the world because 95% of potential
customers are outside of the US and it
used to be the only companies who could
reach those customers were large multi
multinationals but that’s no longer true
today
things like eBay and Etsy they’re just
the beginning what we need is the
invention of new platforms that will
allow that company in Indiana whether
it’s selling prosthetics or customized
blue jeans to reach a very broad range
of customers and there’s some companies
like this but there need to be a lot
more and once there are once you invent
programs for what are now being called
micro multinationals you could be
marketing not just goods but also
services through things like augmented
reality devices for example and through
the use of holograms an electrician in
Alabama can could analyze the problem
with a factory in China and guide locals
on how to fix it all of these new
companies though in the old ones too
need to rethink the notion of core
competencies it sounds so good we only
do what we do best
but what it has become is a way to
justify only caring about creating good
jobs for people at the top of the food
chain you know that didn’t used to be
the philosophy of American business so
for example if you look at Codex
in your report from 1990 on page two a
pace place of pride they talked about
the number of jobs created they even
talked about the amount of wages pay and
benefits paid as one of the key
accomplishments of the company if you
compare the last annual report published
by Apple same place place or prime page
– nothing like that
they talked about their cash position so
we need to add a stakeholder employees
and to recognize that if the company
takes care of the employees the
employees will take care of the
customers and then the customers of
course will take care of of the
shareholders who in turn in a virtuous
circle will take care of the employees
that’s the virtuous circle that we need
to be moving towards and we need to
bring the jobs where the people are
because in that ocean of red they’re not
going to move here any more than we’re
going to move to Alabama
for good and sufficient reasons also
these are two job families they need to
find not just one better job they need
to find two better jobs and they need to
find two jobs that are so much better
that the fact that they’re now going to
be paying for childcare elder care and a
lot of other things that they’re dense
rooted localized network of family and
friends can’t give them any longer for
free they still need to come out I had
they are not going to move but through
all of these new technologies that does
not matter as much now because we can be
creating companies in the heartland
so Silicon Valley in many ways is so
perfectly placed to help drain the venom
from American politics and replace it
with hope you know we did globalization
wrong but let’s do automated that’s how
Silicon Valley can disrupt American
politics thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: