What is that, some kind of diet?

"lightly stoned"?
The last time anyone was lightly stoned in the US was, oh, the late 80's.
The strains of cannabis that have been developed in the last 20-30 years are VERY STRONG.

What is there to get?
Why else do you think pharmaceutical abuse has risen so dramatically in the last 20 years or so?
Money, that is why.

Look at how much advertising there is on commercial television and on the internet for pharmaceuticals.
BigPharma has bought and paid for Congress and used the media to push its agenda of everyone having to take some kind of pill, all the time:
"Just ask your doctor".

Do yourself a favor and read "Manna" by Marshall Brain.
An excerpt:

America was no different from a third world nation. With the arrival of robots, tens of millions of people lost their minimum wage jobs and the wealth concentrated so quickly. The rich controlled America's bureaucracy, military, businesses and natural resources, and the unemployed masses lived in terrafoam, cut off from any opportunity to change their situation. There was the facade of "free elections," but only candidates supported by the rich could ever get on the ballot. The government was completely controlled by the rich, as were the robotic security forces, the military and the intelligence organizations. American democracy had morphed into a third world dictatorship ruled by the wealthy elite.

Ultimately, you would expect that there would be riots across America. But the people could not riot.
The terrorist scares at the beginning of the century had caused a number of important changes. Eventually, there were video security cameras and microphones covering and recording nearly every square inch of public space in America. There were taps on all phone conversations and Internet messages sniffing for terrorist clues. If anyone thought about starting a protest rally or a riot, or discussed any form of civil disobedience with anyone else, he was branded a terrorist and preemptively put in jail. Combine that with robotic security forces, and riots are impossible.

Exactamundo!
For some reason people have a hard time extrapolating where technology is heading.
Think about the computing power in your phone compared to even ten years ago and it isn't hard to see where things are going.

It is exactly what they think.
They are biding their time, casually waiting until they have the necessary tools(robots) to enforce their will upon the 99%(non political number).

I'm sure the "think tanks" out there have been mulling over this for the last few years. I know they are thinking about a "dole" system, similar to what Switzerland has been thinking about. Problem is, where will the government get the money to support millions of unemployed? You think corporations(who will eventually takeover) are going to do it?

The reality is, in the not too distant future, those 20-30% thresholds of unemployed will be met.
What happens then?

What happens when the millions of uneducated immigrants in the US(and elsewhere) who have been doing low skilled labor are displaced?
What happens when the millions of educated citizens in the US(and elsewhere) who have been doing skilled labor are displaced?

The good news for those in control is they will have robots to enforce their will.

Comparing what is now taking place to the Industrial Revolution is ridiculous, and everyone knows it.
This is a "Brave New World" we are entering.

"Want to be"!?!

You don't understand Marin County or the Bay Area in general then.
In that area, Affordable means you can only afford a Prius.

These aren't the condos you're looking for.

Can you blame (mostly)Mexican immigrants coming to the US for similar reasons?

Silly boy, Not only does the Colorado rarely reach the sea, most of the water from the Colorado used by California is used by agriculture.

You should have told China that, say, about 30 years ago...

What! Are you crazy or something man?!? You can't do that, Zuckerberg, Gates and the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't have it!

Mod points please.