As our ancestors have tried on various belief systems and philosophies throughout human history, the merchant class was never seen as at the top of society’s social structure. They were a necessary class, placed above peasants and entertainers, but below the classes of soldiers, nobles, priests and royalty. It was well understood that the greed driving a merchant is not to be left unchecked.
Today, however, the merchants have moved up, now called capitalists. The old systems keeping this class in check had some serious failings of their own. But the replacement structure we currently employ, based on praise of greed, has caused a great deal of pain and fixed little in return.
There might be some more movement of people, giving the illusion of a system that’s increased “fairness” for everyone. Wealth, however, is still highly concentrated among a small pocket of people. The large numbers of poor remain, too. Only the names have changed and the point of view slightly altered along the way.
We may think we’ve changed a great deal when all we’ve really done is re-title the groups, leaving their concentrations the same.
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