We too easily see "government" as some sort of Martian invasion, outsiders who impose their will on us. Government is just an institution within society, no different than churches or baseball leagues. We have met the enemy and they are us.

The alternative to robotic fast-food kiosks is for humans to be relegated to those task, people doing the work of machines, essentially pulling plows lest they be unemployed because tractors are cheaper.

If you integrate the facts you know, you will consider that inflation pushes upward all dollar calculations. I figure that my $30 per hour today is no different than my $3 per hour of 1980. For almost 20 years, I have been explaining the Roman denarius - a day's wages - as being like the $100 bill today.

Moreover, it is not that the evil Martians are forcing us to pay more for unskilled labor, but that the cost of robots is coming down. It has been going on since 1750. Would you want it any other way?

I am reading some "Club of Rome" material now on "sustainability." (Don't ask.) And one thing they did identify correctly was that from Julius Caesar to George Washington, not much had changed. Then, overnight, it did.