Capitalist Utopia: Work your whole life, to own nothing. So you will continue to work for us because of the fear of losing everything (we rented to you).
Capitalism can't work without consumers, and consumerism can't work unless you can convince consumers they're better off as a cog in a machine. What capitalism degrades into when this doesn't happen isn't communism but rather mercantilism, or, if there isn't enough economic activity for even that, feudalism. And no one wants that.
I didn't realize how this could work until I looked at my own life and realized I would rather be an IC than a manager.
I still want to own my own means of production and earn economic freedom, but on my own terms. If I can't get it on my own terms, being a cog in someone else's machine isn't really all that bad.
Reframed this way, it's less a battle of haves vs have nots and more a cooperative project to make more for all. Ultimately capitalism has to find a way to incorporate the best parts of communism.
I didn't realize how this could work until I looked at my own life and realized I would rather be an IC than a manager.
I still want to own my own means of production and earn economic freedom, but on my own terms. If I can't get it on my own terms, being a cog in someone else's machine isn't really all that bad.
Reframed this way, it's less a battle of haves vs have nots and more a cooperative project to make more for all. Ultimately capitalism has to find a way to incorporate the best parts of communism.