Ultimately one of the big problems we face today is that the various central banks print money and in doing so keep the interest rate artificially low.

That artificially low interest rate makes it possible for this mechanization/automation battle to play out in many sectors of industry that it normally wouldn't.

$1mm for 10 years at 2% interest is $9200 a month, give or take.

$1mm for 10 years and 10% interest is $13200 a month, roughly.

$13200 a month is enough to provide a job, fully loaded including salary, benefits, space, etc for at least a $60k/year job, maybe $80k per year or more depending on fixed vs variable overhead, etc.

$9200 per month would, given the same assumptions, perhaps pay only $30k-$50k again depending on the mix of variable and fixed costs.

So what we've seen is that the automation "horizon" has been pushed lower by the low interest rates. And it's displaced jobs that normally would have been done by low skilled labor that while not fun were at least employment. As the pool of jobs available to low skilled folks shrinks competition gets more fierce and wages drop.

The central banks are massively more damaging than they are generally understood to be.