Obama's New Villain on Job Losses: The Internet

It's not true. Sure, any successful new industry tends to destroy some jobs. But successful industries also create their own new jobs, and further, new efficiencies in the economy create completely unrelated jobs, products and services that can now be profitably offered because people have a bit more wealth, and hence can spend a bit on things they hadn't spent on before.

Obama only focuses on the first part: Internet sales has destroyed a good many brick-and-mortar sales positions. This is true (and I think something we need to look at as regards the disparate tax treatment of internet and local sales; either end the tax for both or impose it on both).

But in any growing economy, efficiencies would create wealth which would lead to other jobs.

His problem, then, is that he simply has a stagnant economy and diminishing wealth.

Not the internet.

But he needs a new villain because ATMs and robots were last season's villains.

posted by Ace at 03:14 PM

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