Why are so many young people fed up with capitalism?

The problem is not capitalism itself, but the degeneration that in the long run leads capitalism to centralize wealth in the hands of a few.

The centralization of wealth in the hands of a few is bad in many ways:

1. Bad for democracy, because these few are then able to buy it.
2. Bad for people, because to become so wealthy one must “maximize resources,” which is like saying “exploit one’s employees as much as possible”
3. Bad for capitalism itself, because that money is seized by the market. The few who sit on a mountain of money reinvest only a small part of it in the real economy and the rest they put into finance, which does not generate new jobs.

Capitalism moreover rests on a subtle misunderstanding: “Everyone can get rich.”

The misunderstanding lies in the word “everyone.” If that were so, in a fully capitalist country the rich would be plenty, practically everyone.

Actually, that “everyone” could mean “anyone.” But even that is not true, because in a capitalist society everyone does not start out equal. Those who have the money to be able to study at the best universities and the right family connections have a distinct advantage over others.

Those who support current capitalism know this well and in fact tend to magnify, in every way and publicly, the deeds of the very few who have really made it from the bottom. But in the end, the truth is…