Inequality in a Globalized Economy

Just as water will always pour downhill until it reaches its own level, capital will flow like water in its relentless pursuit of maximizing profits. It is clear that a very large proportion of jobs that have been lost to the middle class were not lost to offshore outsourcing but to productivity gains attributable to new technologies. Robots, wireless connectivity, and cloud computing have brought about a revolution in information technology that inevitably eliminates jobs. For example, voice recognition, translation programs, and self-driving cars are technological breakthroughs that are no longer distant dreams.1 It would be foolish to ignore the “countless secretaries were who replaced by word processing, voicemail, e-mail and scheduling software; accounting staff by Excell; people in the art department by desktop design programs. This is also true of trades like plumbing and carpentry in which new technologies replaced a bunch of people.”2 There are very few Luddites still around who would roll back these breakthroughs, and companies will continue to improve productivity and profits from future innovation. But labor costs will always impact the bottom line.