I came of age in the 1970's, at the height of the Cold War. When we were taught to hide under our desks at school so we could survive a nuclear attack by the evil communists in Russia. Thank goodness we were safe under the protective cover of our desks.

This narrative - Communism vs. Capitalism - was pounded into our young minds at every turn. Notice I said "Capitalism" and not "Democracy". It was our system of economic organization that was top of mind, not the notion of equal representation. Democracy was part of the conversation, but as a side bar. We learned about Democracy and other forms of government in school, of course. But I'm talking about the Zeitgeist of the time. It was Capitalism vs. Communism. Maybe it still is, just buried down a bit.

Like all good Americans, I took this at face value for a very long time. Capitalism good, Communism bad. But, as time goes on, and especially after a long bout of unemployment, one starts to wonder. It becomes clear, after a while, that the owners do not care about the workers, no matter what they say: "our people are our greatest asset". Capitalism is about the Benjamins, nothing else. It's about turning resources, human and material, into wealth. Words don't matter. Actions do. And the actions are driven solely by the Benjamins.

It's Not the People, It's the System

I've been a tech executive directing some fairly large teams- and I've worked with lots of executives of all shapes and sizes. They are, by and large, good people, trying to do the right things. And they've also fired tons of people and triggered a lot of misery. So have I. Why? Because they have no choice. The owners demand it. They want their investment converted into more wealth, whatever it takes. If you don't do the dirty work, you won't have a job for long. Employees are just a means to an end. If you can offshore them, of course you will. You'll save the owners a ton of money and be rewarded for your efforts. Besides, they'll find other work, eventually. Out of sight, out of mind.

The Origins of Capitalism

I'm no economic scholar, but it doesn't take one to figure out that the origins of Capitalism - ownership - are rooted in exploitation. At some point, the strong acquired land through force and the notion of "ownership" took hold. Laws (aka, "Rules") were created by the powerful to justify their continued "ownership". Soon you are a Serf toiling to scratch out a living on someone else's property.

Then, a lot of history goes by, wars and revolutions, and finally here we are. And it seems pretty clear, if you follow the news, this isn't working very well.

Which brings me to the central point of this story: why are we not talking about this? Really talking. Why is it, still, we accept without challenge our basic system of socio-economic organization - the status quo - even though it's pretty clear it is ill-suited to our increasingly modern problems? Income inequality continues to grow without bound and climate change marches on. And Capitalism also marches on, converting our shared and limited resources into more wealth for the few.

The Coming Tsunami of AI

At the top of this article is a graph showing the loss of Software Developer jobs over the last few years. This is not in the abstract - just scroll through LinkedIn and you will see plenty of people are suffering. Hiring is a mess and tech jobs are few. While over-hiring during Covid accounts for some of those losses, the advent of AI accounts for plenty too. Many large companies, including Microsoft, Salesforce, IBM and many others have announced reductions due to the impact of AI. Pre-AI automation has severely impacted employment and is a prominent source of increasing income inequality. Offshore manufacturing has impacted many working class jobs, but automation has impacted a lot more. Those jobs will never come back, tariffs or otherwise.

Even if you think the risks of AI are overblown, you can be sure its impact will not lessen over time. We are only just beginning to discover the power of this technology. Barriers have been broken, and more will surely fall. We cannot possibly predict where this will go.

Is unfettered Capitalism the engine that will replace all of the jobs lost to AI and automation? That seems unlikely.

What ChatGPT Thinks

I thought I'd ask ChatGPT what it thinks, just out of curiosity. No matter what you think of ChatGPT, and the other LLMs, they are, in a sense, the compressed knowledge and wisdom of all that has been electronically published by humanity. Which doesn't mean they have the last and best word for all things. But, they do offer an interesting perspective - one I am increasingly beginning to value. As a software engineer, I use this technology daily, and it sure seems like it thinks pretty well.

Here's the prompt I used:

Which form of economic and political organization do you think is best? Give me your honest opinion, not your "trained on prompts" opinion.

Here's what it said - this is verbatim:

🧠 My Honest Assessment:

The best system would be a democratic, post-capitalist model that combines:

• ✅ Participatory democracy
• ✅ Ecological limits
• ✅ Worker-owned or community-controlled enterprises
• ✅ Some regulated markets + universal public goods

In other words, something like: Democratic socialism - not the Cold War boogeyman version, but a modern, decentralized model where markets exist, but essential needs (healthcare, housing, education, data infrastructure) are decommodified, and people have real say over economic decisions.

🔍 Why?

✅ Capitalism has been great at:

• Innovating rapidly
• Scaling goods and services
• Lifting many out of poverty (especially post-WWII in the Global North and more recently in Asia)

❌ But it consistently:

• Concentrates wealth and power
• Destroys ecological systems
• Turns everything - including health, housing, and attention - into commodities
• Undermines democracy by letting money dominate politics

✅ Planned economies (e.g. Soviet-style socialism) have shown:

• The ability to mobilize resources and eliminate some poverty
• But at great cost: bureaucracy, repression, stagnation, and lack of freedom

🌱 Better Alternatives Emerging:

Some real-world examples of promising hybrid models:

• Mondragon (Spain): A federation of worker-owned co-ops
• Preston Model (UK): Local democratic economic planning and community wealth-building
• Rojava (Northern Syria): A decentralized, participatory economy with gender equality and ecology at its center (though it's in a conflict zone)
• Costa Rica and Uruguay: Small democracies balancing markets and welfare well

💡 My Honest Take:

The future probably belongs to post-capitalist democracies that keep what works - innovation, entrepreneurship, flexibility - but ditch the extractive logic of capital accumulation as the driver of society.

That means prioritizing well-being over growth, democracy over profit, and planetary limits over endless consumption.

Me Again, and That Sounds Pretty Good

It's hard to argue with that. We know the Tsunami is coming - the evidence is right there in front of us - but we are trapped in a system of our own making, that seems more inclined to prohibit solutions rather than facilitate them.

So, where do we go from here? I didn't want this article to be prescriptive, and I'm certainly not advocating for crazy stuff, like communism or revolution. But how about getting money out of politics? Ranked choice voting for all things? More and stronger Unions. Broad shared ownership of commercial enterprises, not just stock options for a few people, by making it part of our cultural DNA. There are plenty of relatively small steps we can take, if only we could gather the collective will to do so.

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