Late Stage Capitalism

They have been calling this era the late stage or end stage capitalism.

Whether that is correct or not, we appear to be in the era of great income inequality and are rushing headline into oligarchy, if we are not already there. And so, some are very angry.

‘There are a lot of bitter people here, I’m one of them’: rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises.

Andrew Gumbel, The Guardian, “‘There are a lot of bitter people here, I’m one of them’: rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises”, January 11, 2025

I read two articles that addresses this topic of inequality and unhappy people. The first one from The Guardian explains why those in the Rust Belt voted for Trump even though they know he lies or know he will not be good. That is a fascinating story that explains the psychology of making such choices. It is basically revenge of some sort.

The second article is from the New York Times and appeared a few minutes later in my feed. This one traces the history of how we arrived here. While the article, which may be behind a paywall, has more of a political bent, there are some sociological underpinnings here: workers so aching for dramatic changes that they are willing to cut off their noses…or so they think.

Now add to that despair, to that history of being left behind, to that desire for drastic change, the prediction of AI taking on more jobs. Add to that the appearance of oligarchs controlling the government. Add to that the projected additional inflation from tariffs and mass deportations.

The rumblings when Luigi Mangione killed that CEO of United Healthcare? That might get louder if the dreaded inflation does happen.

The social media civil war that popped up during discussion of the H1B visa? The tussle between the billionaires and the regular people might become more frequent.

We’re in a very unstable period where a group of people are very comfortable talking about violence. The violence toward CEOs and billionaires might become more real. It is hard to say.

And add on top of all of that, we are possibly facing more extreme weather events which could mean financial ruin for a lot of people.

I dread the next few years.