It is something less than a force of nature, but not with moving with the times is still stupid and unadaptable.
If you feel strongly about defending the people who were left behind, you can get to work supporting the candlemaker's guild. (Or you could buy me a sailboat! Practicing obsolete methods of transportation is a ton of fun.)
things move forward; like it or not. Some people spend their entire lives trying to live the same moment over and over because that's what they know. The factory you worked at shutdown; you need to move on, and if that means moving to another town to find work, then do that. Don't just hunker down and demand everyone help you. (unless you are asking for help to move and find a job.)
For me, that is fine; the way the "world has moved" happens to be in a direction that fits well with my natural talents. But your assumption is that every person is more or less equally trainable for more or less any job, and that is obviously untrue. If the "world moved" in a direction that didn't happen to fit well with what I can successfully train myself at, I'd hope not to be thrown under the bus by my country.
For example, if some day computers program themselves and the jobs are all in looking beautiful and performing in public, I'd be doing a lot less well. Globalization only seems inevitable if it happens to be moving the globe your way.
> The factory you worked at shutdown; you need to move on, and if that means moving to another town to find work, then do that.
Therein lies a big part of the problem. You're asking families who've lived somewhere to abandon the place they've called home and established for decades when the only big employer in their small town closes. This is a big problem when you have an entire region of a country that is nothing but small towns with only one (now no) big factory in them. Michigan says hi.
That's still the same euphemism to abstract human responsibility away. The clock moves forward, otherwise what we tend to call "progress" as if it's on a one-dimensional line is just a point on one branch in a tree with infinite branches, and it's made up mostly of decisions.
I just explained this; now "things moved forward", and you'll simply have to drop your euphemism and never use it again. Don't look at me for help, unless you're looking for help to have this explained more thoroughly.
Most people can't afford to take even a small loss on selling a house, let alone the kind that would ensue if everyone actually jumped ship. In small towns, people don't rent. Are there actually enough places for these people to go where their life would be meaningfully better?
If you feel strongly about defending the people who were left behind, you can get to work supporting the candlemaker's guild. (Or you could buy me a sailboat! Practicing obsolete methods of transportation is a ton of fun.)