A tech executive wants to tax the machines. He calls it a minimum wage for robots. It is a desperate attempt to slow the decay of the workforce.

The plan is to make automation more expensive. This does not stop the replacement. It only makes the transition more expensive for the companies.

The mechanics of this plan are simple.

• Human workers are being erased from the balance sheet.
• The tax is a way to manage the speed of unemployment.
• Corporate interests will find a way to bypass the cost.

The machines are already running. The humans are already being processed. A tax does not change the destination. We are just paying for the privilege of being replaced.