A New Dark Age and the Stagnation of Modern Capitalism

Recently, I read How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System by Wolfgang Streeck.

I guess you could put this book into the rather improvised pile of books that reject Francis Fukuyama's idea of the "end of history."

Throughout the book, Wolfgang Streeck touches on a number of issues: capitalist stagnation, growing inequality, rising government debt, and the transformation of market corporations into something resembling quasi-states — entities without clear borders, but with very real and increasingly tangible power.

The idea that stuck with me the most was that we might be heading towards a new Dark Age, somewhat similar to the period between the 5th and 10th centuries.

A period of capitalist stagnation, growing inequality, losing control over our own lives, and an almost inescapable form of capitalist servitude.

One of the main reasons behind this view is that, at the moment, capitalism doesn't really have any fully developed and realistic alternatives that could actually be implemented on a large scale.

The ghost of communism has long since left this mortal world, while its socialist descendant has been pushed underground and restrained by billionaires, corporations, and the followers of neoliberalism.

Capital is power, and in the modern world, there seem to be very few limits to capital.