"Blah blah blah unions blah health care blah blah."
The fact is that since 1990 or so the U.S. job market has been characterized not by a general rise in the demand for skill, but by “hollowing out”: both high-wage and low-wage employment have grown rapidly, but medium-wage jobs — the kinds of jobs we count on to support a strong middle class — have lagged behind
Blog Commenter
YAWN. Substitute this paragraph for “The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer” and you’ve got something that a guy could have been yelling from a soapbox in pre-industrial England. This sentiment will never change, no matter the economic tide or time period.
The “secret sauce” is that innovation begets efficiency and more free time, which begets more innovation. It’s wonderful to have 100% employment in cottage industries where everything is made by hand. And industrialization does cause people to lose their jobs. But the fact that most everything becomes faster and cheaper frees more people to innovate at an even faster pace than before.