The premise:
An alien shows up on earth, bringing with him an android. The android is, capable of creating reproductions of itself from cheap, widely available raw materials. It requires no external power for it's entire long lifespan and is loyal only to the alien. The androids can disguise themselves as human, and are universally capable of doing our jobs as good or better than we are. The technology, being completely foreign to us is not within our power to take control of. The alien is not hostile, but has the goal of accumulating as much wealth as he can.
A start:
The alien sets up manufacturing somewhere, (it could be anywhere, a city, an island, even in space), and starts creating androids. Since each android can produce others, the manufacturing speed can ramp up exponentially making the speed essentially unlimited and the external cost zero. He sets up a corporation and starts leasing the androids worldwide. He will not sell them under any circumstances, but only lease. Prices for an android are periodically set to roughly 75% of the cost of hiring a human for the equivalent job. You need truck drivers? Hire the androids and save a bundle. You want a manager android to manage truck drivers, save even more. Every job, every employee that is not legally required to be human is capable of being replaced at a significant discount.
The impact:
As the androids enter the workforce, they will drive down the price of labor. People will be forced to work for less or lose their jobs. Since there is no lower bound to how much the androids can work for, eventually it will completely destroy the job market and reduce the value of labor to nothing. Without the ability to earn money, customers will run out of money. Ultimately without customers that can afford to purchase products all companies would become valueless and all the worlds economies would collapse.
The challenge:
What rules would need to change to allow the androids to participate in our economies without destroying them?
As our technology advances, things that behave increasingly like the alien's android will be participating in our economies. How do we keep them healthy in the face of this?
