rant · moment 8 of 23
Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Sikorsky Helicopter Dependency
from #178 - Secret Society | The Tim Dillon Show · #178
4 min
Tim describes touring through a desolate, crime-ridden Bridgeport and relays a local's explanation that the whole area's economy hinges on Sikorsky Helicopters, drawing a parallel to Detroit and Rust Belt collapse.
- Sikorsky helicopters employ 8,000 people at one facility and 2,500 at another in the Bridgeport area, with many feeder companies dependent on them.
- Tim notes that if Sikorsky leaves, the entire region becomes like a small Detroit, illustrating how vulnerable entire areas are to single-employer dependency.
- Many regions are reliant on one or two corporations, and even partial automation of jobs would cause serious economic collapse.
- Political discussions about drag queens and reading in libraries seem trivial compared to coming economic devastation.
- Tim identifies the need to actually talk about deep systemic problems that aren't easily solved by political solutions.
- Concern about Uber spending massive amounts quarterly on self-driving car R&D while the company keeps losing money.
- Tim makes a case for why legislating the pace of technological progress might be necessary when it's that disruptive to vulnerable populations.
- Question of why truck drivers—the most vulnerable workers—should be sacrificed for an entire industry's automation.
- The counterargument that legislating progress in one industry could have unintended consequences in others like healthcare.
- Tim challenges the healthcare industry argument by questioning what percentage of money actually goes to R&D versus corporate interests.
Sikorsky helicoptersBridgeportautomationDetroitUberUpstate