(RE: http://andrewmcafee.org/2012/12/the-great-decoupling-of-the-us-economy/ )
Information is the model for both natural and social sciences.
If wages for labor rose in the industrial era and are declining in the information era then those prices (wages) are telling us something.
If wages for problem solvers was limited in the era of concentrated capital (early industry), and is expanding in the era of distributed capital between temporary alliances of firms – then we should see increasing wages where capital is concentrated and decreasing wages where distributed.
So instead of internationally wealthy and poor countries we also have internationally wealthy and poor firms and a decoupling of the previous dependence on the local state. And we have a declining wage for anyone not in a firm able to concentrate capital. The influence of local economy on global companies must decline.
And to make matters worse, capital today is available at zero cost. So the only marginally competitive value is in human beings marginally superior to other human beings. Meaning that human capital – the high end of ability – is increasingly important and labor decreasingly important.
Technological man is the scarce resource(genetics).
High trust is the scarce political environment(culture).
The industrial era was an outlier.
Farming went from a good business in 1830, to a terrible business in 1930. Industrial labor is following farming. And white collar labor is close behind.
Hence Propertarianism tells me that we must pay off the unemployable to maintain the commons, and decrease their numbers