The Age of Making Money is Over. The middle-class is done - TechLead
https://youtu.be/rJJBnmDkEwI
I personally think this is a very bad analysis. I agree that our income distribution landscapes are changing, but it's so grossly oversimplified that it's flat-out wrong. However, I'm curious to hear your opinions (obviously this platform will be ultra-biased, we can use data).
In the Western world, it’s not wrong. There are more opportunities to make a lot of money doing things as an entrepreneur, but building wealth by working, is almost a nostalgic and quaint idea.
I think labor and capital go through cycles, we are at a point where capital has the most leverage. At some point, the labor will be more independent and specialize in skills that are more essential to the businesses (as all the technical and mundane stuff becomes a commodity in the world of AI automation). That - combined with the fact that most places have demographic challenges (seniors vastly outweigh the workers), makes me think that we are a few years away from labor being favoured. Thoughts?
That’s very optimistic I think. We are at a point of centralisation never before seen, where so few people own and control so much. And now there is technology to keep tabs on everything and everyone. I’m sure there are cycles like you describe, but I think they are mere ripples on a rising tife of centralised ownership.
Yea, the wealth inequality rises but this is what usually is referred to as "Late stage capitalism". It's really hard to say what will happen, it could very well be Ida's prediction that "You will own nothing and be happy" holds up to be true. The main things somebody needs to be happy (if that's what one optimizes for) are security, freedom, and relationships. I can certainly see a future where no one actually owns anything but is more free, secure, and connected than ever before.
The answer is always somewhere in the middle, but for us indiehackers and people who want to express themselves by building things that help other people, the future will always be brighter.
You will own nothing and be happy is just leap of faith. It’s like expecting God, or Technology will save us, without us doing the work. The answer is NOT always in the middle, by the way. It’s just an expression. In many cases it CANNOT be in the middle. As for us indie hackers, I’m not at all worried. We will be fine, for a long time. I’m not worried for my own personal well being. But I think most people are in for a rough ride.
I feel that regardless of economic conditions, one can always say: "the age of making money is over" and you wouldn't be wrong.
Can you elaborate on that? I feel for the Western world and people who grow up in normal families, there are more tools to build wealth than before, this community is kind of a testament to that. The disappearing middle class is more of an abstraction we made because the tail end of the wealthy in the distribution is getting further away from the median/mode but that doesn't mean the quality of life is getting worse and everyone is poor now, people in 3d world countries are still a lot more worse than people in developed countries so the whole premise of that video kind of falls apart IMO.
Relative wealth is also extremely important, not the least for democracy.
My comment is a bit of satire against what the creator of the video tries to say, so I agree with your statement.