Simon Funk [1] makes a great point that in a mixed capitalist/welfare state, automation decreases efficiency.
Imagine a worker, earning the bare minimum to survive, who gets replaced by a robot with slightly lower operating cost. Now the robot is consuming slightly fewer resources that the worker would have, but the worker doesn't stop consuming resources in turn! Unless you're willing to kill the worker, he goes on welfare instead, and the economy as a whole is burning almost 2x more resources. Sure, the employer is spending slightly less, while screwing over the economy via prisoner's dilemma logic.
Imagine a worker, earning the bare minimum to survive, who gets replaced by a robot with slightly lower operating cost. Now the robot is consuming slightly fewer resources that the worker would have, but the worker doesn't stop consuming resources in turn! Unless you're willing to kill the worker, he goes on welfare instead, and the economy as a whole is burning almost 2x more resources. Sure, the employer is spending slightly less, while screwing over the economy via prisoner's dilemma logic.
[1] http://sifter.org/~simon/journal/20160704.html