Manufacturing output and productivity have risen, jobs are falling. Primarily because of technology: when manufacturing robots are more productive and more cost effective than humans, manufacturers buy robots.

Don’t Put the Shopping Cart Before the Horse

There is a fundamental illogic to the notion that an economy can be grown by encouraging consumption. When a person consumes, by definition, they use things up. The very process leaves us with less than before. Growing the availability of valuable goods and services for society by using them up is not just an impossibility — it’s truly an absurdity.

Consuming Our Way to Prosperity is Macro Folly

The microprocessor is destroying the type of skills that the 20th century education system produced.

The Numbers Game with Russ Roberts on YouTube

Ozymandias

Unfortunately, it seems that the future Aldous Huxley predicted in 1932, in Brave New World, is arriving early. Mockery, truculence, and minimalist living are best, then enjoy the decline. However, we do need a Revolving Door Tax (RDT) and to prosecute politicians and staff and their “family and friends” who profit from insider trading.