I would like to answer your questions about the political environment of my time.

First, we finally did start comparing political systems of the world and determined a few things.

Communism never worked. Welfare either for people without jobs or for corporations that need money is a poison upon society.

The Socialist system of the future is basically fair workfare. Everybody that is able to work, works to receive money. All money is tracked and everybody knows what their neighbors make. Wealth is also capped. People with great ideas that start business are the highest wage earners. Yes, they are given a wage by the Socialist state.

There are no unions in my future because the government is forced by us to keep earnings fair.

Everybody goes to school and either becomes and apprentice or moves on to college.

Robots are considerably more sophisticated in the factory and the field. But they are not welcomed in retail, hospitals and care giving.

Here are the most popular jobs in the U.S. in my time.
Trains. The system here in 2012 in Tokyo and all of Japan will be copied completely by the U.S. in our near future.

Then Robotics Engineer. Maintaining and managing machines in public fields.

Private fields aren't really private. They are squatted upon and people use machine-less farming. Square Foot Gardening is what it is called in 2012 I believe. People still live off the grid from the war days.

Then care giver for the elderly.
Then the medical field.
The military including satellites.
Home researcher and development.
Pet breeder. Not just dogs and cats, miniaturized formerly wild animals. Unfortunately big game animals are becoming extinct.
A lot of people just get paid to consume and spend a lot of time on their hobbies. I personally spend a lot of time reading old comics. Unfortunately home researcher pays lower than retail worker.