No, technology isn’t going to destroy the middle class

Is technology killing the middle class? George Mason University economist and blogger Tyler Cowen thinks so. In his new book, "Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation," Cowen predicts a world in which 10 to 15 percent of the population are skilled at working with the smart machines of the future.

He believes they will become extremely wealthy, while everyone else will face stagnant or falling wages. To many people, such a gap between a meritocratic elite and most workers would be deeply unsettling. Some see extreme inequality undermining democracy; others think it would create economic crises and undermine economic growth. But is the bleak world depicted by "Average Is Over" really around the corner? There are good reasons to be skeptical.