03-06-2015, 05:12 AM
The rise of the top 1 percent is likely very tied up with technology. When George Eastman had a fantastic idea for photography, he got quite rich, and the city of Rochester became a flourishing city for generations, supporting thousands of middle-class workers. When Steve Jobs had had remarkable ideas, he and his colleagues made a very large fortune, but there was much less left over – there was no flourishing middle class that followed in their wake. So, understanding what’s happened to the top 1 percent is important in understanding the overall picture.
Robots are hurting middle class workers | Lawrence H. Summers
Yuji Honkawa knew the humans were losing by April 2010, when no matter how fast he sent orders to be filled at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a machine beat him. Unemployed now after 20 years dealing equities at seven different brokerages, the 47-year-old Honkawa watched as the market sped up and automated traders went from generating 10 percent of orders at the start of 2010 to as much as 72 percent last year.
Robots Take Tokyo as High-Frequency Equity Infiltration Hits 70% - Bloomberg Business