It seems to me its corruption that leads to feudalism. In a highly capitalistic society the successful will be emulated by the up-and-comers who will have more incentive due to their struggles. The successful tend to rest on their laurels. If we had a government that was less corrupt and not pass laws that protect the successful from competition due to cronyism, competition would move in to even things out between the successful and those that are struggling.
It was the cronies like JP Morgan that paved the way for the Federal Reserve system that has created the endless business cycle that protects those that want no competition. That was their reason for creating the Federal Reserve system, to keep the competition down by creating a class of people always in need of handouts from the government that will vote in the ninety-percentile range for anti-capitalistic laws.
We do need to reform our ways of doing things, but not in an uncapitalistic manner. We need massive reforms to our tax system, land-ownership system, and voting system to enact the laws that will lead to more competition so the middle and lower income classes can move up in the system if they have the drive, no doubt about that.
Of course its corruption that leads to feudalism. The government, with the cooperation of banking and industry (or is the other way around?), set the stage for creating the serf class. The greatest corruption of all is a system where the elite minority of people in power can control the masses. That is the most anti-American thing there is. Preventing that is the reason for our country’s existence.
For a century, technology has made people’s lives eaasier and no one really minded those who were squeezed out of the job market by automation, because the numbers we so small and the benefits of reduced costs were so great.
But, now, we’ve hit a critical point where there aren’t enough consumers left to sustain the jobs. Each month, more people fall off the employment rolls and onto the government dole. Small businesses close and new ones don’t replace them these days.
The progs are counting on this to create a demand for communism. The capitalists are counting on this to create a labor market that is desperate for any work and will accept any terms for a paycheck.
Fortunately, technology will enable us the accept either solution because we’ve become denizens of the virtual world. I think that as long people can replace their TV, laptop, and smart phone regularly (and afford or recieve free the services required to use them), they will accept just about any form of serfdom. The people under 30 live in those three devices and many people over 30 do as well. With some effort, I think the elites could convince the masses that they don’t need material possessions or real-life experiences as long as the virtual goods and experiences are emotionally fulfilling.
If they can pull that off, Americans will become the happiest slaves in history.