I'm consistently surprised that people are still arguing against progress in favor of jobs protectionism.  It's never worked.  All we accomplished through the 80s was propping up our unhealthy Steel and Auto industries and compounding the pain.<p>If we aren't ready for the design-centric, automated-manufacturing future, then not only will the linesmen be out of jobs but the designers, engineers and roboticists that we <i>didn't</i> train and lay the ground work for, will be out of jobs.