These changes are becoming global in replacing labor with robots. Much of our manufacturing sector has been hollowed out by corporations seeking to decrease the cost of their products. Two such national hamburger chains are going to this automated setup with robots replacing labor.
Unless they do something like a national guaranteed income this is backfiring on the corporations. It's slowly gaining steam as to the effect. The offshoring of manufacturing has taken much of the middle class out of the equation as the jobs leave. The jobs left are predominately minimum wage jobs. Those minimum wage jobs have become part time in order to fall below the requirements to supply benefits and medical insurance coverage to the workers.
The end result is there is not enough discreationary income to spend beyond what it takes cover living costs. This results in the economy stagnating and not growing. So what happens then is the warehouses get stocked full and workers start getting laid off because not much is being sold. This in turn, limits the tax income returning to the government and the governments (local, state, and national) start hunting ways to increase taxes to make up for the loss. The end result is ever less for the citizens to live on, as wages don't increase. Cheaper products do not always mean more sold.
Profits come to an end when you don't sell products and services. You can see the early effects of this in action with cord cutting. When people have to trim their spending to stay within their means, something has to go. One of the first things to go is entertainment spending. This lagging economy will continue to get worse as these various factors work their way into the system.
Topic: What are you doing right now? (Read 498198 times)