What' s interesting is that this move to disability is just another manifestation of the unanswered question, "what do we do with all of these people for whom the economy no longer has use?"
Between globalization, automation/technology, and "increased productivity" (aka working people like slaves), we just don't need as many U.S. workers. Yet the wealth is still flowing, corporations are realizing record profits, and more billionaires are being minted.
We here on HN tend to feel immune, due to our skillsets. And, while it is true that the shift currently most affects those with high school educations and/or in other sectors (manufacturing), our time is coming. With continued outsourcing, gains in automation (software writing software), and other shifts, we will all experience this. While the software and technology we here produce are helping to facilitate the shift for others, some day the focus will be on us as too costly or ineffecient.
So we will have wildly profitable corporations, an extremely wealthy investor/executive class, and an economy that produces all that the world needs while employing only a tiny fraction of the world's population.
Either these entitlement programs will continue to bloat to unprecedented levels or we will require a fundamental restructuring of society.
Between globalization, automation/technology, and "increased productivity" (aka working people like slaves), we just don't need as many U.S. workers. Yet the wealth is still flowing, corporations are realizing record profits, and more billionaires are being minted.
We here on HN tend to feel immune, due to our skillsets. And, while it is true that the shift currently most affects those with high school educations and/or in other sectors (manufacturing), our time is coming. With continued outsourcing, gains in automation (software writing software), and other shifts, we will all experience this. While the software and technology we here produce are helping to facilitate the shift for others, some day the focus will be on us as too costly or ineffecient.
So we will have wildly profitable corporations, an extremely wealthy investor/executive class, and an economy that produces all that the world needs while employing only a tiny fraction of the world's population.
Either these entitlement programs will continue to bloat to unprecedented levels or we will require a fundamental restructuring of society.