It’s almost a year later, but I find myself in Atlanta again. This was the least planned trip I have taken, but fortunately, I made the last-minute decision to drive here all the way from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Those 11 hours of driving (I tend to take my time) left extensive time for my thoughts to wander. And, seeing that I am a bit of a one-trick pony, we could be certain that I was not interested in “talking nobody name”.
I happened upon a Panda Express that was hiring in the Dania Beach (Fort Lauderdale) area. It is tucked away in a busy area amid direct competition. Yet, it offered some pretty decent salaries on first glance. Those numbers may reflect a statewide or national expansion effort. A store manager is set to earn between US$75,000 and US$100,000 per annum. Assistant managers and the Service and Kitchen team, however, attract an hourly wage. They stand to earn US$22 to US$23 and US$16.50 to US$17.50 per hour, respectively.
The economist in me could not help but consider whether these wages were justifiable for persons living in the metro area, encompassing cities north of Miami. I imagine that most persons would deem washing dishes at this fast-food chain a solid career choice. Franchises are better able to consolidate human-resource costs. I suppose this makes sense.
There are tonnes of websites that speak to the cost of living in the United States. I would not even refer to them in an academic article, for various reasons. They are, however, quite insightful in assessing how liveable different regions are. To put things in perspective, a member of Panda Express’s Service and Kitchen team can earn US$3,360 per month before taxes if they work full time, six days a week.
On Apartments.com, the approximate monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment ranges from US$1,800 to US$2,300. Other living costs are also 90 per cent of the national average. Transportation costs are rising. Food costs are climbing. What is clear to me, anecdotally, is that the ability to grow savings in Dania Beach on this salary comes down to living close to the restaurant or sharing an apartment. The latter, I believe, is a rite of passage as an immigrant, but the grind, however, has to make sense.
The average person living in their own apartment in the city pays close to US$450 a month for combined energy and phone services, according to Extraspace.com. Estimates like these may be on the higher end of the cost-of-living spectrum. We can imagine, however, that it does not leave much space for expenses on a healthy diet. And something like that costs 87 per cent of the national average. That is a reprieve, if any, but does not do much to provide a meaningful progression in life.
We are now halfway through my drive, some 6.5 hours in. My mind pondered a video I saw the night before. It is funny that I am telling you all this because I well know that 95 per cent of the country will not agree with its premise. Essentially, the presenter believes that birth rates have fallen in the developed world as a result of “children becoming unnecessary”.
Traditionally, and outside of surface-level religious and sociological arguments, children are viewed as an economic asset in the video. Therefore, a significant number of parents had them either to support the running of households or, mostly, as a form of insurance—so that they would be cared for in old age. The latter resonates with me since I have been confronted with this reasoning far too often throughout the Caribbean. Human lifespans have increased significantly due to modern medicine. The longer the lifespan of an animal in the wild, the less likely it is to reproduce often. We may sit above all else in the food chain, but do remember that we are no different in our basic survival instincts.
The video goes on to offer some sound rationale. Economic gains from continual technological innovation basically render those two apparent benefits of having children useless over time. It is plausible to think that AI, AGI and Physical AI will eventually replace what is traditionally ascribed to children. If we are to treat children as economic variables, then the cost of raising them outweighs the benefits of those “roles”.
Suffice it to say that neither economists nor scientists, for that matter, have sufficiently quantified happiness. This makes it difficult to universally accept one solid measure. So again, I understand if people do not accept the financial arguments. Certainly, the evidence is clear: birth rates are falling while quality of life is improving. One could also say that universal basic income could only accentuate this. My general premise is that it is necessary in the age of AI.
About seven hours have now passed. I have just crossed into Georgia, and two things now occupy my mind. I must watch my gas needle for fear of having to pull into a sundown town at the wrong time. Otherwise, I am rethinking my position entirely on Barbados’ population-growth strategies. The more compelling thought is that population growth does not solve a problem being forced on us. Mass unemployment is more likely the more people we have—born-Bajan or not.
We economists know that the majority of inflation is imported into Barbados. We are not a producer of any vast number of products and services globally. We neither own nor have monopolies in any large market spaces. So, we are price takers instead of price makers in everything we do. We must compete. As a result, it is more expensive to live in Barbados than in Dania Beach, with fewer opportunities to pursue wealth generation. Barbadians know inherently that the better option is often to emigrate. But living conditions modernise and, in the case of our country, the cost of living increases sharply with no end in sight. The latter is determined less by government policy and overwhelmingly by the imported costs of goods and services.
Maybe our attention should turn to re-evaluating our place in the world. We should lock in on the skills, investments and attitudes meant for actual survival in the near and long term. I will not delve into the plethora that I have mentioned over the years. Let us say that, for now and during my trek to Atlanta, I made a commitment to re-evaluate. I will be blunt in saying that, in the grand analysis, we are operating as though the world is not “burning” around us.
This morning, I heard Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announce his company’s first successful product lines in Physical AI. The modern consensus is that the trades, or “blue-collar” work, were safe for the time being from AI. Suffice it to say that this was thrown out of the window with this announcement. It presents a grave situation for the future. All manner of jobs will be replaced unless it is politically expedient to avoid the situation. That is quite infeasible, given that political donations in democratic societies are sourced entirely from the private sector. Go figure!