But the people laid off may found a great company afterwards. You look at the economy as a zero-sum game. But the pie is growing bigger nearly all the time.
As a thought experiment, isn't it possible that the pie (wealth) could grow larger but that the distribution of that wealth could be narrower due to technology and outsourcing of jobs? That may not be zero-sum, but it could certainly be problematic for wage earners.
The wealth distribution within a given first-world society is certainly changing, with bigger amounts of wealth going to the top 1% etc. That's mostly due to the fact that well educated and connected knowledge workers are able to utilize globalization to a greater extent than your regular mailman. But that's not necessarily for the worse. Even inflation-adjusted wage stagnation need not necessarily be bad, as you mostly can buy more with your money today (reduced prices for electronics, basic necessities etc.) than in the past.
