I mean, as someone who has been laid off a bunch of times (more than most people I think), I do sympathize with them. It sucks to have your income source cut off, it sucks to lose health insurance (or have to pay full freight with COBRA), it’s demoralizing to have to grovel at the feet of a bunch of potential employers for months at a time, it’s depressing to wake up to dozens of rejection emails, and it’s scary to not see an end in sight.

I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to forcing companies to pay some amount per month to people whose jobs were automated away for N years, and/or providing job training for a new career.