POL 507 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Dean Baker, Side Effect, Rein
4 Mar 2015
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Dean baker - technology didn"t kill middle class job, policy did. The story is that innovation rapidly reduced the need for factory workers and other skilled labor. The view in elite circle is that the rapid rise in inequality in us over the last three decades is an unfortunate side-effect of technological progress. This story talks about the millions of middle-wage jobs for factory workers, bookkeepers, and similar occupations. These were jobs where people with limited education used to be able to raise a family with a middle class standard of living. However computers, robots and other technological innovations are rapidly reducing the need for such work. This story is comforting to elites, because it means that inequality is something that happened, not something they did. They won out because they had the skills and intelligence to succeed in a dynamic economy, whereas the huge mass of workers that are falling behind did not.
