The Bright Future of AI-powered America
is ours for the taking
Some basic facts about homelessness. The homeless population in the U.S. is growing. Recent data indicates a significant increase nationwide, with 2024 recording the highest number of homeless individuals since tracking began. Over 770,000 people were homeless in 2024, surpassing the previous year by more than 118,000. The homelessness rate increased from 1.75 per 1,000 in 2022 to 2.3 per 1,000 in 2024, representing a 30% rise over the two-year period. Overall, the homeless population increased by 18% from 2023 to 2024. Additionally, chronic homelessness, defined as individuals homeless for at least a year or experiencing repeated episodes, grew by nearly 30% between 2020 and 2023 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Under the Biden/Harris administration, the U.S experienced the largest increases in homelessness ever recorded, both in terms of the number of people and the percentage rise. Many experts believe that the federal spending and stimulus measures under the Biden administration contributed to inflation, which in turn drove up rents and home prices. Since 2019, rents have grown by more than 27% and home prices by nearly 50%. This forced many people to live on the streets.
Once people become homeless, it is very difficult to find employment and to lift themselves out of poverty. This leads to a spiral of dysfunctional behavior as people no longer have opportunities for a better future.
This is our future, unless we change American culture right now.
This is a children’s playground in Oakland, California. Kamala Harris’ hometown It is now completely overrun with a homeless encampment, trash and needles This is what Gavin Newsom and Democrats have done to California you don’t see reported on the news.
Not all homeless individuals are without jobs. In the U.S., approximately 53% of those in homeless shelters and 40% of homeless people on the streets are employed in some capacity.
Many homeless individuals are functionally unemployed. About 66 million Americans, or nearly one in four working-age adults, are functionally unemployed—meaning they are either jobless, unable to find full-time work, or earning less than $25,000 annually. That accounts for 24.3 percent of the workforce 7.
Somehow, we have a situation whereby almost 25% of the workforce is functionally unemployed. Yet it is also argued by the experts and industry leaders that we have to import illegal aliens to do our “dirty” jobs. That Americans are incapable or unwilling to mow lawns, do landscaping, garden, do farm work, butcher, houseclean, and even complete basic construction tasks. The list of jobs we rely on illegal immigrants for goes on and on. Of course, none of these are jobs that AI will replace anytime soon, which is why these “dirty jobs” are the jobs of the future.
But the situation gets worse. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the world's leading creators of artificial intelligence, forecasts that over the next five years, AI could automate or eliminate between 10% and 25% of jobs in advanced economies, with certain sectors and entry-level roles facing even higher risks. The overall global job loss rate due to AI is projected to be between 9% and 14% by 2030, with the most rapid disruption expected between 2025 and 2028 7.
This is the future we all have to prepare for.
Work has become the enemy in the minds of many Americans. For many years now, the USA has been slowly drifting away from core elements of a functional industrialized society. There is a strong belief that a four-year college degree is the best route for most people to achieve success. Pop culture has celebrated the “corner office job,” overlooking the important roles played by the workers and jobs that helped create that office. Moreover, the traditional and essential roles of maintaining a household and raising a family have been denigrated.
Because of this, many see other pathways to success, like trade schools, apprenticeships, and certification programs, as less valuable or just “alternatives.” Well-meaning parents and counselors often view apprenticeships and on-the-job training as suboptimal options, relegated only to individuals who aren’t suited for a college degree in some manner.
This focus on higher education is in part due to a decline in vocational programs and trades classes in high schools nationwide. Unfortunately, these trends have contributed to a growing skills gap. A gap for which the solution for many small and large businesses is to either hire illegal immigrants or export their labor needs overseas.
Last Monday, I was at an event in DC, speaking with a conservative who matter-of-factly told me that we have to import labor because Americans are not going to go out and cut their grass or clean their own houses anytime soon.
However, here's the thing: when things get bad enough, or the stigma is removed from such jobs, they will. And that is the future we have to plan for and enable.
On Sunday, we had dinner with a German family visiting the States. I was speaking to Julian, who is a German housewife. She and I were discussing the dire economic situation in Germany, primarily caused by the large influx of immigrants. The proportion of people in Germany who are immigrants, as well as their children (where both parents are immigrants), is almost 25%.
Juxtapose this with Poland. Immigrants in Poland represent about 7% of the population, and the vast majority of immigrants in Poland are from Europe. Poland’s economy is expanding at one of the fastest rates in the European Union. There is almost no unemployment. Why is this? One of the main reasons is that Poland has not taken on vast numbers of immigrants, unlike Germany. Germany is awash in immigrants who can not find work and are now relying on government services to live.
According to Julian, the economy in Germany is so bad that now some Polish people are actually hiring German women to clean their houses. This is an exact reversal of the situation a few years back, when Germans hired Polish women to clean their houses.
Another reason the Polish economy is thriving is that it has a highly skilled labor force. Poland has made significant, ongoing investments in teaching people the trades. This has been achieved through a combination of government funding, employer incentives, and curriculum modernization. The result is that in Poland, a more flexible and industry-aligned vocational education system has been established, equipping both youth and adults with the skills necessary for the modern economy.
There is a lesson to be learned from all of this for America. We must prepare for a future where trades, including manufacturing, play a significantly larger role in the economy.
Work must become not an enemy of the middle class as it is now, but their savior. And this major shift in thinking must happen rapidly.
Unfortunately, our primary and secondary schools teach children that attending college is the path to success, implying that without a college education, one cannot achieve a successful career or true mental enlightenment. College has replaced religion as the citadel of knowledge. Teachers are teaching what they were taught in college, that the pathway to success and happiness lies in a “good education.” That the trades are something we hire “others” to do. That the domestic arts are not of value. This has to change.
The Department of Education should start by creating educational materials for elementary schools that highlight the advantages of entrepreneurship, the requirements of trades careers, and the positive impact on families of such employment. These materials should emphasize that working in an industrialized setting or as a tradesperson offers stability and job security, along with opportunities for family and leisure time. That a career in the trades requires as much or more skill than a college degree. That such a career is desirable and a goal worthy of a young person’s consideration. Additionally, a vocational education system aligned with industry needs must be implemented in high schools immediately. This system should equip students with essential skills for the modern economy, taking into account the impact of AI on various industries. High schools need to stop hiring teachers with four-year degrees and instead hire skilled tradespeople.
The USA has a huge unmet need for tradespeople, and lots of high paying jobs are going begging for applicants/
To Make America Great Again, Make the Trades Great Again!
Of course, this will be implemented on a state-by-state level, as it should be. But as long as we have a Department of Education, it can be used constructively to facilitate these changes.
We can not afford to be like Germany, whereby we have a vast immigrant population and not enough jobs. In the USA, we already have almost 25% of our workforce as functionally unemployed, capped off by a growing illegal immigrant population. This imbalance is unsustainable. Without a strong economy and good jobs, our birth rates will continue to decline, and our nation will stagnate economically. Overnight what constitutes a “good job” has changed, and Americans must adapt to this new reality.
The golden future for America is work. Real work. Not bullshit make-work jobs.
That means, good-paying jobs that have meaning, but that do not require a college degree. People have to be re-educated to view such jobs as worthy of their time and effort. This will require that our children learn to work again. This will require that many college-educated people be retrained for jobs in the trades.
For our families, they must reorient to this new reality. Saturday morning chores, which require our children to perform real work, must become the norm again. Families must relearn that the risk-benefit ratio of being outside and playing will cause more injuries, but that is offset by strong, healthy bodies. That children learn that physical work is not to be avoided, but rather to be embraced. That parents set an example and work with their children to clean the house, teach organizational skills - the domestic arts as well as how to use a screw driver, how to mow their lawns, plant vegetables and keep chickens. These basic homesteading skills teach children how to move their bodies and teach muscle memory. A child who has spent their life on their cell phone is not equipped for the world that awaits them.
I had a little chuckle yesterday when someone commented that my homesteading posts seemed elitist because they thought most people couldn’t homestead. But that really isn’t the case at all! Even folks living in apartments can enjoy a vegetable garden or try their hand at hydroponics. Learning a craft like knitting or how to cook to feed a family is all part of the self-sustainability movement. This isn’t elitist; it looks towards a different future. His inability to understand this reality and message reveals that a certain mindset is at play, one that makes it seem like tradecraft and a lifestyle focused on self-sustainability are out of reach for most Americans.
The cognitive dissonance that homesteading and prepping are elitist, while also viewing the domestic arts and trades as inferior uses of time, is a real phenomenon. This is a result of our educational system and media.
Teaching basic skills in our educational programs is critical to the well-being of society. Home economics must become a core curriculum, along with how to use tools. I took shop classes in high school - woodworking, metalworking, auto, drafting, at the same time I took advanced algebra, chemistry and biology and participated in the California gifted and talented high school training program. I would not have the skill sets I have needed throughout my life if I had not done this. That was California back in the 70s. All gone now, all gone woke.
Modernizing those old educational programs and making them the centerpiece of a model educational system is a critical step in shaping the American economy for the future. Those old-fashioned jobs in industry combined with modern training for skills involving robotics and artificial intelligence have to be elevated to the place in the hearts of Americans that they deserve.
Dr. Malone, I’ve followed you since the early days of COVID and while I’ve gained much from your guidance (Thank You!), your message today compelled me to finally add a comment.
When he was in high school, my now 42 year old son was told by his guidance counselor that he’d never amount to anything if he didn’t go to college. Undeterred and with our strong support he set his sights on becoming an electrician when he was 16 years old.
After high school he entered a 6 year International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) apprenticeship. I told him to regard it as his masters program. He did very well in the program and has, thus far, had a wonderful career working on many facets of electrical substations. He added numerous certifications along the way, all through the IBEW, that have enabled him to take on more and more highly skilled facets of the job.
This is a guy who loves what he does and earns a very nice salary. Yes, his hands get dirty and he works outside in all kids of weather but he wouldn’t change it for anything! I’d say he amounted to something special.
Dr. Malone, this sounds so sensible. I'm left wondering why our politicians and institutions don't implement these policies. I suspect, darkly, that self-sustainability with healthy, competent, productive individuals and functional families makes a society so much harder to control by authoritarian elites.