Does this mean we are all doomed?
If the Washington Post is saying it, yes we are doomed
I remember growing up as a kid in the 1960s and 70s and there was one corner of the basement that had some boxes stacked up with stuff that my mother called "memorabilia." Just a bunch of old plates, glassware, newspaper clippings and other knick-knacks.
Today, the average house is completely saturated with stuff. I bet I could find at least five old coffee-makers in my basement alone. That's because we always end up getting the latest and greatest gadget while putting the older perfectly well running gadget down the basement "just in case."
I never have figured out what "just in case" means. Just in case of yard sale? Just in case it might be worth something on Ebay as an antique? One thing for sure, we'll never actually lug it back up to the kitchen and actually use it. That's because if the one we are using breaks, we'll just go out and buy a new one and put that one down basement to join the others.
Just in case.
Not doomed, but the growth potential for individuals is becoming more and more limited every year.
Manufacturing creates WEALTH... when a manufacturing job is lost, its not just that job that get cut, there are 3.5 additional jobs that that one manufacturing job supported that also go away.
Service industry only generates 1.6 jobs for every direct job. (And what’s 1.6 x 2?) Just about 3.5... which is exactly why in todays america in general it takes 2 incomes to equal the inflation adjusted income of what your father alone could provide for your family 30 years ago.
That’s the facts, the free trade worshipers will try to spin it otherwise, but its the facts.