Well, this has been known for decades, the Club or Rome's report (Limits of Growth) predicted this in the 1970s. Here's a graphic from 2004:
We need UBI (Universal Basic Income) or people are going to not be able to afford basic commodities any more. We already see working poor, it's gonna get worse. Demand UBI.
I can think of so many jobs that we don't have because they make no money, but that would better society as a whole. There should be no reason we can't... do that.
i guess this depends on whether you see yourself as a person who deserves basic goods, or if you see yourself as a workforce who needs to be told what to do to be happy.
The ownership class reading this: “…the training wheels are coming off, boys. It’s time we really kick this thing into high gear. We’re running out of time. Get your affairs in order—and by that I mean pick which if your mistresses will be your concubines on your floating golden fortress.”
“Understood.”
The group: “‘we’re the fuckin worst’ on three—one, two, three!
All:
“WE’RE THE FUCKING WORST!”
Generic white guy #1: “Alright, good hustle. Now go out there and fuckin murder some lower class people! This death machine ain’t gonna run itself! lol obviously im kidding, we were born into a machine that already runs itself and we were just the dumb lucky bastards born into the positions we’re in. But we deserve it!
Generic white guy #12: woah, Tom, you thought a little too much there. I’m afraid…we’re gonna have to take away the “#1” from your position. We worked hard to get where we are today! Don’t you EVER suggest there is an inherent flaw in a hierarchical system! You will be punished severely for even MAKING a reference to some FAKE injustice in our system! You are now #4. Other Tom, congratulations, now you’re #1. You must be very proud to hold this position.
Previously Generic white guy #4: this is an honor. I deserve this.
The participants identified a negative feedback loop, whereby the government’s failure to tax wealth effectively means it lacks sufficient revenue to uphold the social contract by which strong public services, an effective social safety net and a healthy economy provide people with decent living standards.
Trust in politics then declines further, politicians avoid honest discussions of the underlying problems and what to do about them, and the system’s legitimacy is increasingly questioned as the social contract collapses.
That's a nice story, but there's been plenty of even less egalitarian societies. Pretty much all of the ones in written history, actually.
More likely, in the short term a new, more coercive "social contract" will be rotated in (if the trend continues). Heck, we're already seeing it a bit in the US. Now showing fealty to the president is more important than public relations for a lot of companies and billionaires.
We're already most of the way there. Inept, Incompetent, and overtly corrupt governments engraging the population
homelessness, unemployment, unpopular immigration and costs of necessities going haywire
trade wars brewing, Oh, and World War III is basically already in it's pre-game show stage with the fighting in Europe.
I'm at the point where Im expecting it any day. the US is just one bad move away from causing an all out revolt, because part of its population rightly thinks that the new admnistration is full of mobsters, tyrants, and fascists.
This is why the fascist billionaires are carrying out their great takeover.
They know the jig is up and everything's going to crumble down and no one will escape it.
They just want to rob whatever they still can before they too croak. Thre is no great plan for their survival beyond a few years in an underground bunker, either...
I got news for you. We can already store food for dozens of years, if not a hundred in mylar bags with O2 absorbers. With enough money you could store enough food for you, security, families, and all supplies to repair and maintain an underground bunker for a lifetime, easily.
Elon literally built a doomsday retreat in Texas, where most of the women he's fathered children live. as well as most of his children.
some notable exceptions, Grimes isnt there, nor the child who became Trans. for obvious reasons
It’s a hilariously incompetent strategy by the rich because they’re more dependent on a functioning society than any other group. You can tell they’re not smart nor good leaders when they build luxury bunkers in New Zealand because those won’t save them from losing virtually (and possibly literally) everything they have. They have everything to lose and the only thing they need to do to keep their wealth and power is to contribute to the society they’re living off of. They’re failing miserably because they lack compassion. It will be their downfall.
but isn't their strategy literally how they have 90 percent of the wealth? seems a crushingly effective strategy. what do you suppose their downfall looks like? does it happen before or after ours?
"within the next decade" sounds like an unnecessarily long view on it. Next Christmas will come within the next decade too but it doesn't mean it'll be 10 years from now.
Not really, given the current state of the world, it would most likely accelerate the rise of fascism, war and the further environmental destruction of the planet.
I'd agree if it was just the oppressive system and the power and wealth of those benefitting the most from it collapsing with no ripple effects, but the most vulnerable groups of people will take the brunt of the initial damage long before the billionaires feel it.
A shitload of innocent people are going to die from the devastation wrought by a few billionaires and the politicians they own. Even more so than today.
And the trend has only accelerated since. Especially now that the fascists are implementing Project 2025 with frantic haste.
Just like with climate change, the fact that they hardly ever get the timeframe stated in the headlines right doesn't mean that the emergency isn't real.