> So your solution is to tell labor that they should turn into capital?

Progressive automation, it is at least arguable, makes that an essential part of any long-term solution. Labor as the key to income for the vast majority of the population may well not be a long-term viable option.

Of course, arguably, basic income / negative income tax is just an incredibly way of turning everyone into (at least, in part) capitalist living off what they own; what you own is a dividend-producing share of the commons. At a minimum, its a way of reducing the need to engage in wage labor to meet survival needs, and increasing the ability to direct efforts towards becoming a capitalist.

I REALLY like the way you phrase this.

Perhaps that could even be a way to sell it to the populace so that it can't be immediately struck down as "worse than communism".

A solution would propose a "how to"; I did not. I am merely pointing out a long term historical trend. If a person makes their living based on selling their time and specialized skills in exchange for money (as I currently do), there is no one size fits all strategy to take a wage earner and turn them into an owner that will work for everyone.

Labor is a market like any other. If it's too crowded and competitive, it's best to consider other options.

The problem is that labor is the only market you can enter into without already owning things to trade for it.