[morepedantic]

I suppose the high child mortality rates of all the other economic systems tried thus far are preferable.

The proximate cause is social collapse, not economic. Maybe the ultimate collapse is economic, but it could again be social.

[AngryData]

Are you trying to claim that without unfettered capitalism all medical progress and technological improvement would never happen? Capitalism didn't reduce child mortality, technology and knowledge did, and we have been progressing technologically for atleast 40,000 years, if not significantly more.

[mordae]

It did help make the time saving devices widely available and thus boosted our productive capacity. It e.g. allowed many women to enter the workforce since they no longer had to spend all their time washing, cleaning, cooking, shopping etc..

It no longer does that, though. Now it just seeks rent, sells luxuries to rich and manipulates masses into overconsumption.

[mordae]

Sigh. Capitalism aligned with our needs (cheap goods) up until about 1990. Colonization of former USSR pushed it to 2010 or so, but now it just keep declining and won't stop. It needs growth in productivity that just isn't possible without replacing human labour at above inflation rate.

I did so by giving us fridges, dishwashers, supermarkets and other time savers, but robotic vacuum was the last one.

Self driving trucks and autonomous shops are being rolled out extremely slowly.

And with hollowing out middle class the outlook for 90% standard of living is pretty bleak, without having anything to offer to the 10% besides being cheap factory manipulators.

At some point we really will have to sit down, say the house is complete, hand out free beers and take a breather before getting to the smaller details of furnishing and gardening. Then we can maybe discuss the stars.