"Widening and deepening inequality is not driven by immutable economic laws ..."

[anneboleyn]

7. Exactly. As Marx warned us, Capitalism depends on inequality. The deeper the divide, the better

for Capital to maintain a pliable, obedient labor force in the Proletariat, better to drive up the gap between what is paid to the workers by Capital for what the Proletariat produces and what Capital earns as actual profit, which is of course obscene in our current system. And yes without proper controls on the system, as in the Gilded Age (1880s-1910s) when abuses finally inspired our country to pass laws protecting workers (including the laws against child labor), and protecting smaller companies from larger trusts, workers labored in horrendous conditions with no cushion, no minimum wage, no healthcare, no unemployment assistance etc.

in the meantime the millionaires and billionaires of the Gilded Age threw dinner parties with gemstones (served on ice cream) as party favors, while the ordinary workers slaved away for fifteen hours a day in hellish conditions and prayed they did not fall ill or suffer an accident. This is why there must be checks on the system.