With mainstream media, you are lucky to get half a loaf, and a recent Washington Post item is a prime example. The piece noted how the increasing use of smart machines performing complex workplace tasks has been negatively affecting employment, and automation should therefore be a matter of public debate in the upcoming Presidential campaign.

That’s the good part. But there’s no mention that the automation revolution means importing millions of immigrants to fill jobs done by retiring boomers is unnecessary because a future labor shortage isn’t happening.

Plus, adding so many immigrants may cause potentially explosive social consequences, assuming the diverse underclass becomes even larger and angrier over the lack of jobs. Does Ferguson ring a bell?

Oxford University researchers estimated in a 2013 report that “about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk” to be replaced by smart machines.

Below, robots can do customer service, like Orchard Supply Hardware’s greeter bot that can guide shoppers to desired merchandise.

Smart machines are everywhere, doing things you never imagined. Jobs are disappearing in small numbers here and there so we hardly notice.

One example. Remember going to the local pizza joint and watching Tony toss and spin the dough? Forget it — Tony’s job is toast in the brave new automated future. Check out the fresh pizza vending machine in Italy:

Actually, the Post piece did touch upon immigration, mentioning that employers might address “breaking down barriers” and “attracting more high-skilled immigrants.”