In the late eighteenth century, yarn spinning became mechanized before weaving was widely mechanized.

textile flow chart: cotton--(spinning)--yarn--(weaving)--clothes

Human weavers benefitted as yarn, which is an input, got cheaper and volume demanded for clothes rose.

But then machines became better at weaving. This improvements of weaving machines happened over a multi-decade period.

One research account estimates that handloom weavers earned roughly twice as much as cotton factory workers in 1806 , but 25% less by 1820 .

There were a few factors that limited the social damage

The number of human weavers as a percentage of total employment was limited

There were other booming manual industries eg coal in Britain at that time

The automation happened slowly as the tech developed slowly

Britain began exporting to the world, so the overall textile industry was big

Now imagine the same falling wage on American white-collar workers, without the four limiting factors. There will be political resistance.…