If you don't have a good answer, you don't talk about it. The answer to the future of the middle class is the same answer we gave to global warming 20 years ago: Nothing. It was a considerable topic during '96 election. Except the public didn't really understand what it meant or necessarily believe it, so it wasn't really relevant to the vote. Slick willy won that one on his own. We know what we had to do 20 years ago, but we didn't have the popular support to do it. We are just now getting a grasp on the situation.

When it comes to job automation and the shrinking middle class, we are just like we were 20 years ago with global warming. Not enough people understand it, no one is taking it seriously. I'm sure it will be a hot topic 20 years from now.

I think the biggest topics for the upcoming election will be: healthcare, global warming, middle east, the 18 trillion dollar deficit, and gun control. People always care about jobs, but that's really not the same issue as automation and the shrinking middle class. There is no good way to address that issue. A presidential candidate could come in and make a promise to secure a million new jobs over the next 4 years but that's not going to solve the automation issue. It's just a distraction and catering to the public. To fulfill such a promise, expect a minor raise in the federal minimum wage and 1 million new low-income jobs. That's the reality of the middle class: It will get redefined. It will disappear and what we now call the lower class will be the new middle class. There will the haves and the have nots. Either you will be completely homeless and destitute or you will be living paycheck to paycheck. Clipping coupons will be the new tupperware party. Everyone will just get used to a shitty life.