zlacker

>>NotInO+(OP)
This is late stage capitalism at work. Our economy and political systems incentivized the behavior that lead us here, and the current apathy we see is the working class realizing the rot in the bottom of society.

>>jpluse+ba
There's no such thing as late stage capitalism. There's ebbs and flows, businesses that were formerly great (like newspapers), fade out and go out of business. New forms of media take their place, the cream rises to the top, the train keeps going.

>>chrisc+Jq
In our case I think late stage capitalism is what we are calling the combination of extremely low interest rates, low tax rates on the super-rich, and a lack of antitrust enforcement. The rich get richer, the middle class gets gutted, and nobody is incentivized to care any more.

>>amanap+lw
> extremely low interest rates

Citation needed. The current mortgage rate is 6.8% for 30 years.

> a lack of antitrust enforcement

Citation needed. Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple are all in court for antitrust cases.

>>warkda+Vr1
That's a mortgage rate. Interest rates are usually described generally by using the Treasury rate, which is currently hovering around 4%, which is on the low side of the long-term historical average, which is more like 8% and has been up to 15%. A few years ago, it was 2%. The jump up to 4% is a reversal of a decades-long downward trend, which occurs because more money is in circulation each year, relative to the amount of money the government spends.

Antitrust enforcement is when it's enforced. Court cases are merely attempted enforcement so far.