American capitalism has taken an apocalyptic turn

Archiving and Access Issues

• Early discussion focuses on using archive sites to bypass paywalls.
• Some defend a popular archiver as functional; others object to malware accusations, text tampering, and QR-code CAPTCHAs tied to Google.
• There is frustration that meta-debates about archiving overshadow discussion of the article’s content.

Markets, Mood, and “Apocalypse”

• Several commenters say the “apocalyptic” framing clashes with booming equity indices and strong optimism in markets.
• Others argue asset prices are distorted by manipulation, easy money, and AI hype, making markets a poor barometer of real conditions.
• Some see a bubble driven by flows and liquidity that could crash once valuations reset or major IPOs strain liquidity.

Inequality, Capitalism, and Alternatives

• Many link current anxiety to inflation, housing costs, and wealth inequality; some compare it to the Gilded Age or pre-2008 conditions.
• Suggested responses: prioritize employees and customers over shareholders, promote co-ops and ESOPs, or tax the rich more heavily.
• Debate over wealth inequality: one side sees extreme gaps as socially corrosive and destabilizing; another stresses that poverty and extraction mechanisms matter more than inequality per se.
• One view calls the U.S. effectively “communist” because broad stock ownership diffuses control; others say billionaire dominance makes it closer to an aristocracy.

Revolution, Surveillance, and Historical Analogies

• The article’s 1789 reference triggers extensive French Revolution debate: causes (war debt, taxation, crop failure), moral judgment, and whether modern states make similar uprisings impossible.
• Some argue today’s surveillance, data brokers, and rapid elite exit options (e.g., relocating abroad) prevent classic revolutions.
• Others note that technology is dual-use: cheap drones or attacks on infrastructure could still threaten elites.
• Several emphasize that modern polarization makes a French-style popular revolution unlikely; “nothing” or, at worst, civil war is seen as more probable.

Personal Finance, Class, and Empathy

• A heated subthread disputes claims that “anyone” can become a millionaire by saving $25k/year.
• Critics point to median wages, typical expenses, and shocks (healthcare, repairs) to argue such savings are realistic only for the relatively privileged.
• The exchange highlights tension between individual-finance narratives and structural constraints.

AI, Automation, and Work

• Some worry AI and robotics will “eat capitalism’s head” by destroying jobs faster than new systems are built, forcing new economic models or risking unrest.
• Others stress that human “romance” and interaction still have non-automatable value, pushing work toward the exemplary rather than the mundane.

Media and Framing

• Multiple commenters criticize the article as thin on history, overly negative, or driven by attention-seeking headlines.
• There is disagreement over the publication’s ideological tilt, with some calling it elitist or drifting left, others seeing it as a sober, long-termist voice.