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Yes, but now lower prices for welded goods mean some combination of people can afford to buy more stuff, and more capital is available for ventures that previou

• Falkon1313 10y ago
  That assumes that it would be profitable to fund those ventures. But as supply increases and prices are driven down by automation, it becomes less profitable to fund ventures in general. It becomes relatively more profitable to charge rent on things that can be monopolized. Therefore, fewer ventures get funded, leading to even fewer jobs. As the demand for rentable capital increases, its prices increase, and therefore the rents. Fewer jobs means that labor rates decrease, resulting in lower pay for those remaining. With higher rents and lower pay rates for fewer jobs, people cannot afford the consumer goods even though they have become cheaper with the increased supply. That decrease in demand further drives down the prices such that even with maximum automation, that business is no longer profitable. The people maintaining the robots get laid off. What happens then?