Hi keeler,
Nice post.
One thing I learned during a period when the manufacturing industry in my country essentially disappeared: as John McCain said, the jobs don't come back.
The period of transition isn't easy. And in my view, the only way to find a way out the other end is through entrepreneurial activity. You can't protect your way out of the economics of change. You can invest in education, training and innovation. And you can limit the individual harms via social policies, if you choose and can afford to do so as a society.
But the future is an undiscovered country. And eyeballing it, at times, can be a scary thing to do.