Here’s the short version, for those who need it:
Roughly 2050, and sooner in many places, populations will decline. Even the conservative UN says it could happen that soon.
Fewer people will most likely mean negative economic growth.
Capitalism has never existed alongside long-term negative growth.
GDP is not a useful statistic for advanced economies, yet we are slaves to it. Disasters are good for the GDP (money spent fixing things) and babysitting your granddaughter has no value to economists.
We live in a debt-based world because debt is a gamble that prices and profits will go up. Nobody can get a home loan if property prices are expected to keep dropping. So we need to wean ourselves off debt.
Wealth inequality is increasing because of all the advantages being rich provides. Essentially rich people cheat.
As became starkly clear during the pandemic, essential workers tend to be paid the least. Society is a collective and we should all be able to share the spoils of its success. Not just those who the capitalism model favours.
In advanced economies, we have won. We achieve everything we need cheaply and easily. As a society we could choose to semi-retire and enjoy our successes. Instead, we often work long hours at bullshit jobs because capitalism is no longer the right model for us.
We need to declare minimum living standards for all citizens, in real terms and not simply an arbitrary dollar amount given to the unemployed, disabled or elderly.
Universal Basic Income is a major part of the solution to inequality and negative growth. It is improbable that it will be implemented universally overnight, but there are ways of getting it going under different guises. UBI will give people in bullshit jobs the ability to choose not to work. Essential workers will be rewarded more fairly.
Business ownership needs to change. We can have more employee ownership, and even go further – customer ownership. Passive shareholders should become a thing of the past.
Punishing or ending the ability for people to get wealthier due to being wealthy is necessary. We can retain meritocracy and lessen inequality, if we choose.
Population decline is probably 30 years away. Capitalism needs to be radically adjusted to cope, and we because we need to change some incredibly entrenched ideas (buying a home is an investment…), we need to start a long, careful process of change now.