| > Modern societies are supposed to be organised for the benefit of all in society That's a nice sentiment to hold, but that's simply not true. All societies are formed by the elite for the benefit of the elite. If others benefit in the endeavor, it's simply an accidental side effect. Industrialized human society is no different than the industrial animal farm. The industrial animal farm doesn't exist for the benefit of the animals. It exists for the benefit of the people who own, run or rule the farm. > This is why the government usually sponsors education, for example. Modern education system in the US and UK and everywhere was created to indoctrinate the students into a particular belief system of the elite, produce future factory workers and to keep child labor from competing against adult laborers. It was one part to serve as innoculation against "wrongthink", one part to produce factory workers who can read simple instructions and to remove labor supply ( child labor ) from a society which couldn't produce enough jobs for its adults. A reason for the constant increase in education demands from jobs is simply because there aren't enough jobs to go around. A solution is to keep successive generations longer and longer in school and out of the work force. But a side effect of this is that students are indebted more and more. And debt is slavery as adam smith pointed out. > I believe the start of the problem was the rise of neo-liberalism, holding the market and competition above all else. The problem predates neoliberalism. Neoliberalism ( and neoconservativism ) is just national industrialism writ large ( international ). It's the natural progression from national industrialization of the past 200 years. |