Despite what Donald Trump says, America's manufacturers are doing well right now.

Their success just hasn't resulted in large number of high-paying jobs for Trump's blue collar base.

Instead, the robots have taken over the factory.

Eighty-five percent of manufacturing jobs were lost to technology from 2000-2010, not Chinese job thieves, the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University estimates. And we can expect more automation, and not just on the shop floor. Last year the White House predicted 47 percent of existing jobs will eventually be eliminated by automation and artificial intelligence.

While some of those displaced workers will find other jobs, the purpose of automation and artificial intelligence is to reduce the need for human labor, not replace one lost job with one higher-paying job.

The result could be the biggest jobs-related crisis since the Great Depression, though unlike the 1930s, those jobs could be lost forever.

Unless Donald Trump has a time machine stored in a secret lair underneath Trump Tower, going back to a labor-driven manufacturing economy isn't an option.

Instead, we should look at real solutions—one of which may be the Universal Basic Income (UBI).

Tech executives, including Elon Musk, have become some of the most vocal supporters of a UBI. The idea is currently being tested in Oakland, California, where Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator is conducting a study that provides a select number of residents with a $2,000 per month basic income.