I agree with you.
The economy does adjust to make use of the unemployed resource. But that adjustment takes time. It take a large drop in wages. And there are no guarantees.
Automation has the potential to eliminate entire job categories from the economy just as fast as they can make the machines.
We do need to think about social programs and what would be necessary if large scale labor dislocations occur.
The first step is what Trump is doing. Bring the jobs home. Better to automate here and own both the process and the automation that let it be foreign controlled.
I think Trump is a necessary step in our journey to the future.
First, we off-shored a lot of jobs, and I think people now realize that this did not lead to American prosperity.
Now, Trump is bringing jobs back. I support that 100%. But I am not sure if that is a real long-term solution that will truly lead to American prosperity.
If automation comes and if the jobs we bring home just evaporate, then what do we do?
Well, it’s like a logic puzzle or a science experiment — look at the things that didn’t work and then try something new:
Sending jobs to Mexico? Fail.
Importing Indian/Chinese/Mexican workers? Fail.
Bringing jobs from Mexico and employing US citizens? Success? Fail?
If that doesn’t work, What’s next?
It’s not clear to me that a nation of 350 million people will find a marketplace for their labor. Employers offering jobs, and sending out paychecks? If the future doesn’t look like that, what does it look like?
I think Hobby Farms may be a big deal. We may have a lot of automation, we may have a Post-Scarcity society with a lot of “stuff” being produced — and maybe a lot of people will live on 5 acres of land and grow vegetables because it’s not an unpleasant life to lead. What else do you do if there are no jobs?
That’s a serious question: What else do you do if there are no jobs?