Globalism and automation probably have something to do with it. It may just be a blip of history, OR what if this trend grows extreme? Society would be on a hair-trigger to collapse upon the next big recession.
Do you? While it's technically correct that inequality is increasing the baseline level is increasing, too.
So, while an average person's wealth in comparison to the richest person's perhaps has decreased by orders of magnitude in recent decades at the same time globalization and capitalism not only helped with massively reducing poverty but also with increasing the number of people who - while not exactly rich - make a decent living.
They might be relatively poorer than their 1970s counterparts when compared with the richest people of their respective time periods but in absolute numbers or compared with the economy as a whole they're much better off.
Quigley once wrote that minting corporations with unlimited lifetimes and unlimited scopes of operation--from a historical perspective--is a completely new mistake.
The Intercept had this story a while back where Kerr-McGee was caught dumping creosote into the ground for decades, then the EPA goes and prosecutes the lab owner who blew the whistle. Kerr-McGee gets a fine. Lab owner who blew the whistle gets house arrest.
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/25/did-the-epa-prosecute-an...
And the thought that capitalism might be a threat disappeared too. Though up to this point it ain't proven that either capitalism or communism is better. So far it looks like both have just fallen prey to the inert greed of human beings.
TODO:
1) We need low cost housing. Mobile home parks with $10,000 RVs for rent @ $200 / month. Here in Texas the lowest cost housing options are $600 - $700 a month. With radically cheaper housing it will be much easier to survive working the types of shitty jobs that our economy is currently producing.
2) Large companies need to start raising more capital on the public stock markets. Economic growth comes from people investing money to produce MORE goods and services than were previously produced. However, most of our retirement money does not go towards this purpose. The overwhelming majority of retirement funds go toward purchasing shares of stock on the secondary market which does not contribute to producing MORE goods and services at all.
3) We need to quit allowing healthcare companies to fleece our healthcare system. There's no good reason for the United States to spend twice per capita what Canada spends for healthcare.
When we reach a level of automation where there aren't enough people to sell goods and services to because there aren't enough jobs (and where conversely, there aren't enough jobs to realistically expect a given person to use wages to pay for necessities like food, housing, and clothing), we'll have reached a stage where capitalism is no longer viable as a way to generate or distribute value.
We're on that path, and some of the cracks are beginning to show. But capitalism isn't obsolete. If anything, it's reaching a crescendo. Whether the current form is a good thing for the vast majority of the world's population is open to debate. But that has nothing to do with obsolescence.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/venezuelans-scramble-survive-merch...
Tell that to all the small businesses that were nationalized just because the communist regime felt like it, and then forced all small business owners into poverty and hunger.
Yes, knowing who your child is is holding back the human race from a world of perfect equality.
I'm not sure I believe that, or even think there's a way to get there from where we are now. It's truly a bizarre idea. It's just the easiest way I can see to solve the problem as stated.
Capitalism comes in waves too. Usually it’s really good for while, then declines, and then is reformed into another good period before it declines again and so on.
So it is up to you to work hard and be the best in your field...