[smokel]

It's slightly more complicated than that. If people work less, they make less money, and that means they can't buy a house, to name just one example. Housing is not getting any cheaper for a myriad of reasons. The same goes for healthcare, and even for drinking beer.

People could work less, but it's a group effort. As long as some narcissistic idiots who want more instead of less are in charge, this is not going to change easily.

[smartmic]

Yes, and now we have come full circle back to capitalism. As soon as a gap forms between capital and untapped resources, the capitalist engine keeps running: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It is difficult or impossible to break out of this on a large scale.

[pineaux]

The poor dont necessarily get poorer. That is not a given in capitalism. But at some point capitalism will converge to feudalism, at that point, the poor will become slaves.

And if not needed, culled. For being "unproductive" or "unattractive" or generally "worthless".

That's my cynical take.

As long as the rich can be reigned in in a way, the poor will not necessarily become poorer.

[shafyy]

In neoliberal capitalism they do, though. Because companies can maximize profits without internalizing external costs (such as health care, social welfare, environmental costs).