Great piece in the Atlantic this morning on the state of American manufacturing:
Of course, the United States still produces a huge amount of food, but we do it far more efficiently and with far fewer people. Similarly, America still makes a lot of manufactured stuff, including a great deal of advanced and artisanal products, but we also do that more productively and with far fewer people.
Definitely worth reading, and consider once again the power of the American labor movement when better manufacturing jobs means fewer yet better paid engineers doing the work.
…and where those workers are going to go, and how they will be retrained, and what jobs will they learn…
Not an easy transition. Agricultural workers transitioned to cities to work manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing workers will transfer to the service economy?
All of this transition from agriculture to manufacturing to innovation economies means something for the American way of life. At some point, Nozick has a legitimate point when liberty is best arrived at through community. When, I wonder, do we break through this barrier where machine labor accomplishes the vast majority of our labor-intensive needs? What’s holding us back?