In 1951, the Ford Motor Co. opened up a new engine plant in Cleveland, Ohio, adjacent to the municipal airport. It was the first fully automated engine plant. … I went through that plant many years back…

So they said to me, “Aren’t you worried about how you are going to collect union dues from all of these machines?”

I said, “the thought never occurred to me. The thought that occurred to me was how are you going to sell cars to these machines?” You know you can make automobiles, but consumers are still made in the good old fashioned way.”

Without good wages to provide the populace at large with cash to buy things growth will stagnate and wither. One of the big reasons that growth was so good during the 50's and 60's is that income was spread more evenly between capital and labour. If the trends that favour capital continue in the way that they have since the 80's then for 99%+ of us our children will have a much bleaker existence that we have had. Bringing back much higher income taxes for the very wealthy is one obvious way to rebalance this inequality.