Coping with a Capital-Intensive Economy

[mEDITate-OR:
believe that we CAN expand production by enough to offset the need for less employees...
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What is now The National Debate - Is the current level of unemployment the "new normal"? Put another way is the current loss of jobs "systemic", where the jobs lost will never, EVER come back; or will recover bring back all those jobs for those who still want them?
What appears to be true is that, as for most of our economic history, as society advances jobs disappear only to be replaced by more efficient, less expensive, better products and goods.
Is the still true?
That is the question.
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Oddly, it may miss the real problem - that what WAS true about U.S. was that the economic benefits of productivity and progress was shared among U.S.
What now appears to be true is that since Ronald Reagan THAT is no longer true.
The Richest are getting filthy rich.
The middle class have disappeared.
And, the poor never had, and never will, they simply get by & survive.
If THIS is the "new normal", we may becoming a truly segregated country.
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According to The St. Louis Fed, American manufacturing employment, as a percentage of total employment, has been falling for more than sixty years.

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Over the past twenty-five years, American manufacturing production actually increased, at least until the 2008 recession hit.

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Take a look at our trade with China for 2010, and see how well our stimulus is “working” – for China:

All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars on a nominal basis, not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified.

Month	Exports	Imports	Balance
January 2010	6,888.8	25,185.1	-18,296.3
February 2010	6,855.1	23,363.8	-16,508.8
March 2010	7,403.6	24,300.2	-16,896.6
April 2010	6,591.2	25,905.7	-19,314.5
May 2010	6,752.7	29,036.8	-22,284.1
June 2010	6,715.0	32,866.5	-26,151.5
July 2010	7,344.7	33,260.0	-25,915.3
August 2010	7,253.5	35,288.5	-28,035.0
September 2010	7,168.2	34,999.2	-27,830.9
TOTAL	62,972.8	264,205.9	-201,233.1

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Coping with a Capital-Intensive Economy
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/91390-lawrence-j-kramer/117042-coping-with-a-capital-intensive-economy
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