The end result is that you end up with the government subsidizing non-productive citizens just so they can buy the things produced by the productive ones. This is exactly where we are in 2024.
“The only downside is that with fewer and fewer people working in productive industries, the customer base for those things produced with automation gets smaller and smaller.
“The end result is that you end up with the government subsidizing non-productive citizens just so they can buy the things produced by the productive ones. This is exactly where we are in 2024.”
The cost of the automatically produced products represents labor + material cost + machine cost + profit. Each of those four items go to people who need to buy services.
A shareholder might need a lawn mowed. A machine operator may need a new roof and car repairs. A refinery worker may need legal services and nursing care for his mom. An oil rig worker might need a root canal and a kitchen remodel for the wife.
Most of the non-food manufactured stuff Walmart sells might come to $200 billion a year. Most of the non-food manufactured stuff Amazon sells might come to $450 billion a year. The wholesale cost totaling for the two $450 billion or so. That’s a now minor part of the $15 trillion(?) per year US economy.
The only reason to hand out money is because some people are incapable of work. Much of Social Security is pre-collected.
We’ll be better off with a lot more consumer product industry in the US even if it only adds 500,000 jobs.