Haven't we finally reached the point where all the discoveries of the Industrial Age and Information Age are coming together to enable companies to produce goods as efficiently as humanly possible? And won't advances in AI and robotics enable us to push beyond those human limits?
I'd say that it hasn't in the past because up until 60 years ago, humans were the decision makers doing everything.
There was a speculative bubble in the world real estate market. This led to a lot of real cash circulating (e.g. people refinancing to pay for kitchen remodels so that they can flip their home). That popped, and all the excess economic activity disappeared with it.
The article posits a broad trend. Short term boom and bust fluctuations will always happen.
The article posits a broad trend for which it provides no evidence, and indeed nobody has been able to provide evidence. This is the broad trend people have been positing since the ludites were smashing those newfangled automated looms.
I'd say that it hasn't in the past because up until 60 years ago, humans were the decision makers doing everything.