.. and the consumers get cheaper goods.

This debate is as old as Adam Smith, or older. I think the examples he used were centered around textiles? Everyone was afraid of the new job-destroying looms.

> This destroyed jobs by the millions. And here we are.

US unemployment has been about 5% for a while. If you look back on the graph: https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-une... , there are two big outliers. One is the business cycle disaster of 2008, which blew up the property market. One is COVID.

Unemployment is basically a managed number. It can't go too far below 4% before inflation kicks in, which everyone absolutely hates, so interest rates are raised to reduce investment and consumption and thereby increase unemployment and reduce wage pressure. All of this is orthodox economics.