[johnchristopher]

> If I know I'll be selling 20% less widgets in 5 years as population falls, I wont upgrade my widget making machines. Suddenly the people making widget making machines are all unemployed.

Isn't it time to switch to plugin making machines then ? Setup a market opportunities study to try and see how to recycle skills, know-hows and professional network?

[LatteLazy]

Maybe at a local level. But not at a national one. If you lose your job, you improve you're lot by finding another one. If you're town has 100 workers but only 80 jobs, no amount of job fairs and networking will change the fact 20 people will be unemployed.

That's sort of the issue here: too many people, not enough jobs. And an economic/political system that assumes getting a job is possible for everyone.