I think it was Marx who said the end of capitalism would be marked by corporations and government being indistinguishable. The capitalists would devour local government and services in an ever more desperate attempt to find sources of profit.
I think we're there.
In old fashioned capitalist conditions you could leave school with the aim of opening a hardware store a butchers a shoe shop etc or carrying on the families small business. This is a rapidly diminishing reality.
We are now in the age of monopolies for almost everything.
The biggest companies now produce nothing.
Imagine the collapse of Facebook or Google ... these companies would just evaporate leaving little physical trace. Not like the steel industry mines chemical etc that leave a huge footprint behind.
It's all changed.
21st century capitalism is about casual labour no employment contracts less and less workers rights rapid moves to other countries.
It's not about value but more about greed.
Imagine a Carnegie owning a steel business.
That's changing too.
Now it's investment houses pension funds banks who are the main shareholders with less and less small investors.
Companies can take the workers money for fantasy pensions and get away with it.
The high street is dying.
Face to face buying and selling is dying.
Massive corporations can almost be anonymous.
The public are screwed and capitalism is soon to be over as we have always known it in the past.
It'll get meaner and less accountable by the day.
Power to the people has passed.