[JumpCrisscross]

> term "end stage capitalism" (or the more palatable "late capitalism")

The problem with this language is it implies inevitability and a near-term conclusion. Neither is a given.

You've correctly identified regulatory failure (specifically, our inattention to competition) at the root of these problems. Fighting that takes effort. When I hear the terms late-stage or end-stage capitalism, I hear nouveau nihilism. The situation is far from unfixable. And the present state can persist and fester for generations more.

An analogy might be found in a deteriorating factory. Management complains the factory is in its final stages. The foreman, meanwhile, sits bewildered next to a list of neglected maintenance. This wasn’t inevitable. It still isn’t inevitable. We’re just choosing not to fix it.

[swearwolf]

I may be wrong about this, but my understanding of the term is that “late-stage” refers to the system turning towards ever more predatory and self destructive methods of profit extraction to continue “growing” once the easy money to be made from resource extraction is exhausted.