It's kinda funny that the hero of the human species, who could read the code and "see the matrix", was also being played like a fiddle.

Power yields only to power, so yes, that's one option. Ultimately it's going to come down to "Play nice or we're going to shoot you", and it's a question of how many layers of politeness soften the threat.

So. Ultimately, yes. But I think their hold on politicians all over the west has not loosened yet. But governments will need to do something at some point. Not least because if AI and robotics continues to remove the number of available roles humans are required for, and the number of humans needed for the roles that do remain we'll reach a point where not enough tax is being paid. But in any case there is a definite feeling that while those that were middle class and above were safe until now, I would argue they're targeting everyone who isn't in the 1% now to try to siphon more upwards so that they can become the 0.1%.

Recall that the only trickle down economics that exists is the tax system. Those with money don't pay tax. But they do pay the employees that pay taxes. Pretty much all the taxes. There will be a critical point where there will be too many people unemployed, or just not paid enough to be covering the cost of the benefits systems, especially those over here in Europe etc. It should be no surprise why those on the right that are seeking power and are backed by those with money, are also wanting to shut things down like the social healthcare system here in the UK as an example. Eventually these will collapse if things continue how they are.

Governments will need to collect money from those people they've always been happy to give a free ride. Either that, or there will be a revolution. Again, no surprise the richest people are building bunkers/otherwise finding hideaways for themselves. They know the end result of their way of life.

When talking about this, I generally say we've not hit the bottom yet. We've not reached the worst this will get yet. We have some way to go and things are likely to get pretty bad.

So in summary, yes it will be needed. Don't hold your breath for seeing anything like that kind of action any time soon. It'll take a lot more visible depravity before they're forced to act.

Right. I mean I don't know how far back we'd need to go to find a truly free market, possibly before we have the concept of money. I think fair is also too subjective for me to give any real definitive article for too.