I should just get a macro for my computer so that when I type "Control T" it writes "Tom Friedman is wrong because" since he so often is, as I pointed out here. But in Today's New York Times Op-Ed he does it again, only maybe even worse; blaming technology for joblessness.  When will he and others realize this is not the case. He writes that information technology "is more rapidly replacing labor with machines." Well, if this were true, how does he explain the fact that productivity growth rates...

Originally authored by Phil Bernstein, Vice President of Autodesk and cross-posted from the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign Blog. For ITIF's take on bringing innovation to the contruction industry, check out Steve Norton's coverage of the Bits and Bricks event here. The construction industry is widely understood to have missed the productivity surge created by the digital revolution. Why is that, and what is the government's role in stimulating innovation and change in today's building industry...

We live in a wireless world of tablets, 4G networks, and cloud computing. But on construction sites, where the future is actually being built, making sure there’s place to plug in a microwave to heat up an abandoned cup of coffee is too often about as high tech as it gets. Despite innovations in recent years such as virtual design models, building innovation modeling and laser scanning, the construction industry may have the distinction of having lower productivity than it did 40 years ago. At...

The innovation story is getting lost in the jobs story.  Case in point was the critique by George Mason University economist Russell Roberts on a comment by President Obama on technology and jobs (Obama vs. ATMs--Why Technology Doesn't Destroy Jobs - WSJ.com).  Roberts takes the President to task for suggesting that some technologies replace workers and thereby create short term dislocation.  Roberts discusses at great length the benefits to wealth creation of technology-induced productivity...