I have to admit while I think this knowledge work automation push is all going to be a complete disaster for my own life, I do love that we're finally seeing the educated, "my job is more impressive than yours" class get knocked down a peg or two. I come from a working class background and for years (decades I guess) my family (especially my dad) has been competing with mass low-skilled immigration, outsourcing, and…
There's a lot here I feel I can respond to, and I can't help but agree with the sentiment; I've been saying something like that to people here for years and was dismissed. That said, I think most of the push to drive down labor standards is really coming more from the owner/capitalist class than anyone else. Obviously, they've got the most incentive to do so. What will vex me unendingly is that so many in labor vote…
On your point about the the owner/capitalist class, I think that should be assumed honestly. The thing that's broken in recent years is that the politicians decided that the old model of paying a lot for quality products that lasted and were produced domestically was a bad model when you can import cheap crap by exploiting foreign workers.
This idea that cost increases are bad because if the iPhone was built in the US by low-skilled labors we'd have to pay them a decent wage is hard for me to understand. We should want to pay more given the knowledge that we're supporting the employment of our neighbours and friends. Sure, GDP and productivity might not be as high, but it's not like they were so poor in the 1950s that people couldn't afford a good quality of life. In fact, in many senses the quality of life the average person enjoyed before this was far higher.
We seem to have traded a more equally prosperous society for one which is equally prosperous, but deeply unequal. And for whose benefit? Knowledge workers and CEOs. (In my opinion anyway)