"and, of course, claims to the moral high ground.  In all probability, the politics of redistribution will also include ever noisier calls for a universal basic income (UBI), a guaranteed payment from the state to everyone. 

"Finland will start testing a variant of this next year (2017), although the reliably cautious Swiss recently rejected a version of UBI in a referendum in which the effect of technology on employment played a notable role in the debate.  

"To be fair, UBI (with careful caveats) has its supporters on the right, from Friedrich Hayek to Charles Murray, with the latter citing the rise of the robots as part of his justification:  'A UBI will be an essential part of the transition to [an] unprecedented world.'

"Whatever the arguments in its favor, there’s an obvious danger that a UBI could shatter what’s left of the American ideal of self-help, while handing immense and unhealthy power to a state on which too many will depend for too much.--conclusion completed below.

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