The latest buzzword on the lips of young people in particular is “End Stage Capitalism” Loosely defined by AI it is characterized by extreme wealth gaps, monopolization by a few large and powerful corporations, non-productive profit seeking (ie subscriptions for automobile and software features instead of outright purchases, shrinkflation and cheapening of product ingredients.) Stagnant wages in the face of higher productivity and loss of job opportunity. And I’d add…cronyism, which is the partnership of lawmakers kept in power by contributions by those who wish to preserve their advantage without earning it via competition.
There actually is no such thing as “end stage capitalism”. It’s not a natural progression the way a disease progresses untreated. What we are really witnessing is the natural tendency of power to gather more power, and then protect itself by forceful government regulation and garnering huge wealth to enable wielding that force.
The problem with a term like “end stage capitalism” is that it slips easily off the lips of people who have been steeped in socialist beliefs from early education onward, and pushes capitalism, the one method of meritocracy, into the category of “evil” and “harmful to society.” **
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This term should be countered with “no such thing” and defined instead as what we really are witnessing, undue and unearned power exerted by a few to the detriment of the many.