The Unsettling Case: The Economy Keeps Running While It Stops Needing People
sebpaquet · x · 2026-10-29
A widely shared thread on AI's macroeconomic impact. Core argument: for centuries wages did two things—compensated labor output and distributed the purchasing power needed to consume what others produced; one company's payroll was thousands of others' revenue. AI is breaking that loop.
For any single firm, replacing employees with machines, cutting costs, and shifting surplus toward capital owners is rational. But when thousands of firms do it simultaneously, the same process erodes the purchasing power that sustains the broader consumer economy—production becomes independent of human labor while consumption capacity still depends on wages. The thread answers a user's question: if AI takes all jobs, where will consumers earn money?
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