I don't think there's much for the middle class in the future. There will still be people who have more power than peasants but less than the elite, but I don't think that will be measured by money. I saw a thing on the Chinese English-language news station (those guys are F(*&ing good at propaganda) on a totally automated port. 9 workers. Where's the middle class? And outsourcing to Tata in India, etc..... But most of what we think about the middle class today only got started when we really geared up consumerism. I mean, yeah, it kind of hurt us (small farms were a good institution, ask John Adams), but hey, it beat the Soviets....
I think you would find this interesting even if you don't quite agree. This 1997 meeting of Soros and Krugman at the Council on Foreign Relations when the topic was "globalization" nicely summarizes my opinion on Globalization if you allow for a blend of Krugman's and Soros's viewpoints. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q35BYt5LFsM