The returns that capital demands (and the government obliges to) are ultimately unsustainable. That's the core problem here. Rising wages? There has been no meaningful real increase in wages in 40 years despite a massive increase in productivity. Profits keep going up and up. The expectations for profits keep going up. The problem here is that the people who make companies possible don't get to share in the proceeds…
Productivity has risen, but it isn't a tide tide that raises all boats. Look at what has boomed since the 70s, finance and tech. Finance because markets were liberalized and the economy financialized. They are at the junction where capital gets allocated in the economy, so they are able to take rents on all the capital that flows through them. The more money moving around the more they slurp up. Tech is where the lio…
What people wanted to send almost all labor intensive jobs like manufacturing overseas? Or sending almost all the production of semiconductors which are the primary building blocks of technology overseas? The corporate ownership? Yes. The vast population of citizens? No.
Do you realize that the United States mainly exports cardboard and oil plus a few car parts for BMW? While we import almost everything else.
Finance and tech remained because they are top-heavy industries that require only a few high paid people to execute the majority of those businesses. Bottom line is that this is not sustainable over the long haul. People will revolt as they fully realize that a basic task like buying their own property for their family is unachievable and other basic expenses like healthcare, rent, transportation, and food take up all or more of their income.