Monopolies are a massive issue right now, not just in the US but in the whole world. 10-12 companies own everything consumer goods related, and three investment groups own them. You can find the pretty graphs that outline who owns what via google search. I'm honestly now sure that is fixable barring a worldwide economic collapse.
As far as the middle class goes, that died when the manufacturing base was outsourced. That will likely never recover. In fact AI will probably be the killshot for the middle class. After that it is UBI all the way to the end.
Sorry to be a downer but history pretty much shows how this ends.
When you see what happens to community after community from Detroit down further and further south into the next used and abandoned community, it IS pretty obvious what the future holds for the middle class if it's in the hands of the elite.
That's why America needs to build an economy based on real work and real value. Somewhat like European countries.
But there is no way that is possible with the banks having the control they have, and the oligarchs across the globe having the control they have, and religion having the control it has. The only way this changes for the somewhat better is to rip it out of their hands, and I don't know if that's possible. It's their money that everyone gives value to. Everyone is bought into this system in some way and at some level.
If people can't reject the system, there's no way to avoid its consequences.
That's what spurred all of the rush to big brother. People were figuring out that this modern social construct is bullsht and is taking us backwards to a time when there was no rule of law, but a rule of money, power, and a caste system. The food we've been programmed to eat is killing us. The air that should be clean and healthy to breathe is being poisoned. The water we should be free to drink and use is being brokered, poisoned, and restricted so that it's not free or healthy either.
Consumerism by is at its lowest point in decades and dropping. It hasn't reached an asymptote that says it's leveling out. They're trying to stop that free fall, and Trump isn't letting them do that. Consumerism is what is funding the joy ride of the elite and power-wielding. It's a great game that kept their perversions hidden from those distracted by glamor and glitz, packaging and performance.
Now people in this country want REAL VALUE back in both their products and their lives, and the elite NEED to replace them with people that would be happy not to have cardboard walls and makeshift tin roofs. People happy to have ANY perceived privacy and amenities we have. Those people are here already.
AI is never independent and altrusitic. It's ALWAYS a product of those who program it, those who input information. It's beholden to those who let it have life. If people stop rewarding the people who use automation and AI for labor, and even outlaw it, maybe it doesn't have the power to destroy lives?
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