There’s no realistic path for upward mobility for most of us now Press enter or click to view image in full size Photo by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash Most white-collar workers are headed straight into the permanent underclass, and the window to avoid it is slamming shut right now. As Dario Amodei warned in early 2026, AI is becoming a “general labor substitute for humans”. If current trends continue, more than half of all entry-level white-collar jobs could disappear within five years, creating an unemployed or very-low-wage underclass. Microsoft’s AI CEO was even blunter. According to him, most white-collar tasks will be fully automated within 12–18 months. I guess they would know, because they are the people building the systems. Oh, and they have no idea what to do about it. We’re already seeing it… entry-level hiring in AI-exposed fields has collapsed. Recent college grads face unemployment rates higher than the national average.…