Applied Code

AI Will Destroy the Middle Class Faster Than Globalization

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Applied Code
May 21, 2026
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For thirty years, globalization hollowed out the industrial middle class.

Factories moved overseas.
Manufacturing fragmented across continents.
Entire regions were economically amputated in the name of efficiency.

But globalization mostly attacked physical labor.

AI is coming for cognitive labor.

And it is moving much faster.

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