There is no doubt about this and it most certainly isn't just an American issue. There have been people talking about this for decades, if not centuries. The term Luddites came from one of the first highly visible revolts against automation (mechanized looms) in the 1800s.
The question isn't "will it happen?" but what to do about it. Eventually, we will have near total "black box" manufacturing...think the replicators in Star Trek...that can and will produce virtually everything. The issue is what do we value, what are humans good at, what is the point of "work", and how do we design a society built on the concept of plenty rather than the age-old scarcity model.
I've heard vague "service economy" reassurances, and there is something to the idea that as social creatures we can "earn" our place in the world/village/group by providing services. However, there has never been a shortage (scarcity) of people willing to be sociable and therefore the old model made those jobs almost without value. Can that be changed?
The other "solution" I keep hearing is reducing standard work hours from 40 to maybe 25 or 30. This is really not a solution, but a bandaid and one that would only work for the jobs most likely to totally disappear first. Highly skilled jobs, those either requiring a high degree of training or a special (rare) talent (surgeon, architect, scientist, etc. and artist, musician, athlete, etc.). The second category obviously shouldn't be limited (do we really want Shakespeare to write on 2/3 of the plays, Elvis Costello to sing less, Michael Jordon to play only the 1st half?)
For the first category, the training is becoming so rigorous and the window for putting that training to use so short, that limiting their hours isn't practical. For instance, brain surgeons probably don't get out of training until they are about 30 and may be at their peak (experienced and physically sharp) for about a decade, maybe two. We're already training that person for longer than they're likely to actually be doing the job.
Maybe that is another part of the solution, train/educate people for a much longer time and retire them much younger.
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