| Passing peak globalization might contribute to declining corporate profits from say 2020 onward; not sure that 2020 is peak globalization, but it is in the ballpark. Under standard assumptions of a capitalist economy, a new factor such as "technology" should not drive aggregate higher profits. Because companies don't exist in a vaccuum. Technology may allow a company to produce a good for lower cost, but it also allows that company's competitors to produce the similar good for a similarly lower cost. So of course the article ignored it, it is a non-factor in aggregate corporate profits. So "technology" can increase aggregate wealth of society (I'm a big fan of indoor plumbing) but it is not going to increase AGGREGATE corporate profits. Also, it isn't clear how the specific technology you point towards, "automation", is structurally different from earlier technologies such as i.e. railroads or containerized shipping or telephones or ... Look, obviously only aggregate corporate profits. Some companies made tremendous money off of the "railroad" technology, others went out of business because of it. Likewise, some companies made enormous profits off of computer chips, office software, etc, but the article is about aggregate profits, the economy as a whole, not individual companies. |