Saving Capitalism: For The Many, Not The Few

by Robert B. Reich

Where will this end? Imagine a small box—let’s call it an iEverything—capable of producing for you everything you could possibly desire, a modern-day Aladdin’s lamp. You would simply tell it what you want, and—presto!—that item would arrive at your feet. The only problem is that no one will be able to buy it, because no one will have any means of earning money, since the iEverything will do it all. This is obviously fanciful, but when more and more can be done by fewer and fewer people, the profits will go to an ever-smaller circle of executives and owner-investors, leaving the rest with less and less money to buy what can be produced because we will either be unemployed or in low-paying jobs. The economic model that predominated through most of the twentieth century was mass production by many for mass consumption by many. That no longer holds. The model of the future seems likely to be unlimited production by a handful for consumption by whoever can afford it.