Great article, thank you for your work. Its almost as if the economic system has been pushed in this direction through a number of perverse incentives. For example, labor is FAR more expensive to deploy than financial schemes as a result of heavy handed regulation and taxation. As a result, labor has found the “path of least resistance” by moving over seas and financialization has taken its place. When hiring someone costs nearly double (or more if you wrap up future costs like pensions) the “face value” of the wage, what did we actually expect would happen?

To be fair, financialization hasn’t just made the super rich more rich. It has padded the returns of middle class pensioners and retirees for decades as well. So called millenials are getting hosed on the deal as they are expected to invest their savings at the top of a bubble that has been created by the very same forces that are propping up their parents retirement plans. So rather than invest, they borrow. Granted, with the proliferation of financialization has also come the era of accreditization. Struggling a bit in your job? Pay tens of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper with the “promise” of better pay.