When asked to detail what would make a better life in three to five years, 60% of US adults said greater financial security
Americans may seem increasingly divided on beliefs and values, but in a new survey of more than 30,000 adults from across the country spanning generations and economic classes, a majority of Americans agree there’s a significant barrier to achieving a better life: the rising cost of living.
When asked to describe what a better life in three to five years would look like, 60% of Americans said they wanted greater financial security, according to a survey that was conducted by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the WK Kellogg Foundation in mid-April.
In interviews that accompanied the survey, respondents often defined financial security as being able to afford basic necessities without worry.
Biggest barrier to better life: capitalism.
Idk, man. Capitalism has been really good at generating vast surpluses of commodities for consumption. One could argue that it’s too good at making a better life for a subset of socio-economic insiders. It creates a vicious cycle of overconsumption that favors early adoption, such that everyone has an incentive to industrialize without consideration of the long term ecological costs or geopolitical tensions.
There’s a whole book on the subject, in fact. It’s in German, but you can get translations in virtually any language. Check out “Das Kapital”. A bit of a dense read (god help you when you get to the bit about making a coat). But it seems to suggest capitalism is a stage of human development that all societies have to pass through eventually.
The trick is getting through the industrial phase and on to the socialist phase in an orderly manner, rather than getting trapped in a cycle of increasingly fictitious surplus production that inflates exchange value at the expense of use value.