It is easy to get caught in the trap that all politicians and business people are evil and in the business of grifting people and lining each others pockets. Believing that is 100% the case would pull us completely out of that stupid game and things would fall apart for everyone. Denying that it is a factor would be naivety and walking right into that trap.
Those kinds of discussions have their place but I find them tiring and unproductive if the narrative doesn't pivot to "what are we going to do about it?" Not necessarily about righting the huge wrongs that are out of our control and bearing the weight of the world. Just focusing upon what is in our circle of influence and not having the prevailing winds blow our untrimmed sails like victims.
Here in Canada, SOME education and medical care is "free." That term bugs me because the money that pays from it comes from the tax payers and the big business profits the government collects to pay for those. Definitely not free.
It does seem that the capitalist system is a little out of control now, but maybe that is just because I am paying closer attention from a perspective of greater knowledge? Has it always been a runaway train?
Either way, it will be a balance of yin and yang and I choose to work on influencing the things I can to take care of my family, not obsess on the injustices of the (precarious?) balance that currently is, and try to make things better without taking away from others. Naïve? Denial? Misdirected optimism? Probably all of the above but my roads are paved, kids have food and medicine, and there is a roof over our heads while we find our way in this imperfect system so far.
It isn't about being evil, it is just about the alignment of incentives. The incentives aren't aligned for wellbeing, so that isn't what we get out of business.
Precisely. However, in order to really make a change, enough people have to understand what is happening in the system, otherwise not enough shift, and too many support the status quo.
Always, yes. But, it is heading down a hill and terminal velocity is when there is total monopoly. The growing wealth gap is an indicator of things to come. Once those boomer trillions land in the inheritance pockets of millennials with low financial understanding and hygiene, it is going to be siphoned very quickly away from them, unless the learn a different way between now and then - and then isn't far away.
The best we can do, is keep doing our best.
The good side of financial hardship of the people on the wrong side of that divide could be that they value living beneath their means and appreciate the value of money more than the spoiled fruit of the elite. Taking care of the things in our control and acting magnanimously can be the same thing and perhaps it is our vintage that is making us feel the weight of the world. I use it as context to make smaller progress in my circle of influence to stay sane and progressive.