Software/online companies that benefit from the size of their userbase who then end up with near monopolies (positive feedback) in their space (ebay, craigslist, facebook to a temporary degree) probably produce much less employment per dollar of enterprise value.

The online companies are still part of a deep chain that connects directly to the physical, given that their operations run on servers and their users access their sites through hardware. That chain is still going to be a lot less robust than it is for companies like Ford or GM (I don't know what the term is - one job at Ford produces X jobs elsewhere in the economy, etc). As a wild guess I'll bet a company like Apple is close to on par with Ford in that regard.

Mostly my blood boils fiercely at the idea that the economy is a natural force instead of the collection of choices that it is in reality. And you only have to go about two questions deep down the rabbit hole before you ask why the purpose of humanity is to make and consume widgets...

you are the media you consume.