Author: News Desk

In response to my post France Vows to "Save the Bookstores", Fixes Price of Books, Bans Free Shipping by Amazon , reader David writes … Hello Mish, I enjoy your columns, and agree with most of your economic analyses, but I do have a question about this morning’s entry regarding France and bookstores: namely, what are people supposed to do for their livelihoods if nearly everything is going to be done by computer and robotics? This is the issue that Hollande, in his outdated, ham-fisted way–is getting at, and for the record, I don’t have the answer, either.  The economy needs middle class consumers, but they in turn need money, which they can’t earn without quality jobs.  In the past, technological development led to more businesses being created than destroyed.  The same was true for quality jobs.  I believe the experience of the last five years, however, has demonstrated that this linkage is impaired, if not completely broken