New Thoughts on Capitalism

There’s new thinking on Capitalism

New Thoughts on Capitalism There’s a new term for capitalism being touted: inclusive capitalism. Basically, we need to include the poor and middle class in the productivity gains, not just flow the money to the already wealthy. The leaders in government and Davos are talking about it and proposals are being discussed.

The elites are waking up to the fact that all productivity gains since the 70’s/80’s have gone to the few, leaving out the poor and the middle class. I don’t believe those wealthy few have really earned that wealth unless they have started companies; being an investor or shareholder in a company doesn’t entitle them to the bulk of the money, no matter what that slogan “shareholder value” dictates. The poor and the middle class are the keys to economic growth and stable societies, but if they face declining disposable income, they can’t spend to drive growth. The few wealthy can only buy so much.

With fewer people with healthy disposable income, economic growth will stall and will eventually start impacting the wealthy, if democracy isn’t impacted first.

Here’s the link to the first article that I have read on the elite’s thinking on inclusive capitalism:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/opinion/can-capitalists-save-capitalism.html?

Will the inclusive capitalism work? I don’t know but at least people are talking about it. It will be an effort to move away from what we currently have, which is a greedfest for the corporate chieftains, Wall Street types, and certain few wealthy folks. Those folks will fight hard to retain their gains and they will do it with money. But after 30 years of this kind of capitalism, the unhealthy effects are starting to show: populism and protests, lackluster labor growth, and extremism. We need to do something.

But I fear it will get worse before it gets better: the Robots are coming and the ensuing dislocations will be devastating.

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