What do you expect to happen to these laborers? Will they get to retire in comfort because our society is so rich?
Heck, no. America's philosophy is if you don't work, you don't eat.
The people investing the capital to replace the workers are doing this so they can capture the money that used to go to the workers. And that's what will continue to happen.
You may be assuming that the ones benefiting from automation are happy to live in a world where they are hated by almost everyone, and at best kept safe by using some private army. Imagine living in a world where "eat the rich" is not a fringe idea but a campaign promise...
I would argue the rich would much prefer to let everyone live at some <low but "okay"> standard of living than have a few more zeros on their bank totals and live in constant fear.
I think the world shown in the movie Elysium portrays this reality and its possible outcomes better than I can do. Not the be the best movie ever, but it got this part pretty well in my mind...
> I would argue the rich would much prefer to let everyone live at some <low but "okay"> standard of living than have a few more zeros on their bank totals and live in constant fear.
I suspect many of the rich don't feel they are yet rich enough for this reasoning to be applicable to them.... and each year as they get richer, their subconscious goalposts move a little further.
At some point, obsolete workers have to stop working. Do you want to phase them out slowly at retirement age or something? Keeping them forever is worse for their more numerous successors.
Heck, no. America's philosophy is if you don't work, you don't eat.
The people investing the capital to replace the workers are doing this so they can capture the money that used to go to the workers. And that's what will continue to happen.