The Problems of Economic Growth in the Digital Economy

A paragraph to ponder from the current issue of Scientific American - The End of Economic Growth by Carl Benedict Frey:

"The reason these businesses spin off so few jobs is that they require so little capital to get started.  According to a recent survey of 96 mobile app developers, for example, the average cost to develop an app was $6,453.  Instant-messaging software firm WhatsApp started with a relatively meager $250,000; it employed just 55 workers at the time Facebook announced it was buying the company for $19 billion."

We are living through a huge economic transition where new technology is not creating new jobs.  In 2010 only 0.5% of the U.S. workforce was employed in industries that did not exist a decade earlier. We are using the latest iPhone technology, but work for companies from the 1950s.  At some point in time government tax policy must redistribute more of the $19 billion going to the lucky owners of WhatsApp and redirect the money into areas that might foster more jobs - like public sector infrastructure improvements.