Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. calls out iPad as a job-killer

The good congressman is way off track. You have an intuitive device with a relative flat learning curve, it is actually creating a new technical skill instantaneously for hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in the medical, hospitality, law enforcement, management, transportation, entrepreneurial, legal, entertainment, manufacturing, governmental fields.

There are new markets that can be kickstarted by thousands of tiny companies with the new organizational and efficiency power of this device. This is the new paperclip, obviously it's changing how many of us do our jobs, think about work as a concept and process and even how we can create a handful of jobs ourselves.

Mr. Jackson needs to get with it, this thing is perfectly fine if we used it just to d*ck around at work, playing solitaire, or on the FB; this thing is forcing us all (at some level) to rethink how we do everything, how we communicate, in some cases saving energy while using Facetime instead of flying or driving somewhere, clearly some financial relief to small companies, which in turn can create jobs.

He can't be speaking out for the "elitist", publishing industry as it's tiny by definition, but to grandstand because his constituency may lose some low paying jobs at the checkout counter, is a bit disingenuous. This is an opportunity for people with a relatively low level of technical expertise (or perception) to participate, maybe even create a new business or job for themselves and others.

The advent of tablet technology at some level, may actually spread the ability to create jobs in areas never before considered, to give many people a new opportunity to participate in the job creation equation.

Hey Jesse, did you know the CD kill countless jobs of those working at cassette tape factories too? You cannot stop the evolution of technology. It is a natural movement forward to go away from books to digital media. It saves trees too ya know.

Did he rhyme when he said it?

Don Montalvo, TX

Much of this thread reads like a Ku Klux Klan meeting. Hiring a blogger, Kelly Hodgkins, who attracts people to TUAW by race-baiting is a new low for AOL. The material posted, lifted from a Right leaning site that has never had anything positive to say about an African-American politician unless it was Alan Keyes, is not remotely accurate. This is what Rep. Jackson believes in his own words:

http://bit.ly/glZooz

As Derek Thompson at The Atlantic said:

"I think Rep. Jesse Jackson is getting an unfair rap for his comment that iPads might contribute to higher unemployment. Yes, it was a melodramatic argument about the impact of disruptive technology. But please, everybody, the man is not trying to ban iPads. Quite the opposite, Rep. Jackson, the proud owner of an iPad himself, recently proposed the federal government buy one for every student in America!"

In short, the Congressman's point is the exact opposite of what Hodgkins claimed. But, of course, the intent of the piece was to encourage abusive comments about Jackson and African-Americans in general. It achieved that.

I will be writing AOL to say that Hodgkins clearly is not a person suited to writing for a technology blog. I urge other people concerned about such hateful behavior to do the same.

poor JJJ - hopefully the ipad will eliminate HIS job!

The whole nature of retail is shifting. Even if there wasn't a decreased demand for physical books due to the iPad, there would be a decreased demand for retail jobs due to the increase in shopping online. The iPad, if anything, allows for an increase in oportunity to develop apps and sell them online.

Chinese workers only gets 5% of the wholesaler price for making an iPad, which is:

5% x $300 = $15.00 (16G wifi IPad) each.

Apple robbed $150.00 each iPad, then they pay tax to feed some people knows nothing about economic and maths....e.g. Jesse Jackson Jr.

The problem is our workers won't be able to make any working iPad even we pay them $100 each. too many Jesse Jacksons Jr...in states...

http://www.despair.com/madeinamerica.html

It's about time someone called Apple out. Steve "sweatshop" Jobs could give a crap about the U.S. like most corporatists. These people are loyal to the profit not to any one country. You fanboys are too ignorant or naive to see it.

Welcome to Illinois politics. Say one thing one day. Say another the next.
If he is so worried about unemployment then why hasn't he done anything here in Illinois. Just look at the history of Illinois politicians.