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Economics: Capitalism as we know it was born out of the Renaissance system of Patronage. It required a critical mass of respectable middle-class people to be willing to trust paper 'promissary notes' rather than cold hard precious metal coinage. The resultant increase in wealth for the middle classes brought with it a huge increase in living standards for the well off (but not aristocratic), and the exploited peasantry bought into it on the promise of upward mobility, enabled by hard work and education. Since the 1970s however, the upward mobility has proven to be illusory. House prices have risen faster than wages, higher education has become almost universal and thus lost its value, and ostentatious displays of wealth are for ticktockers anyway. Capitalism is a brilliant motivator, but it relies on a common investment in solid middle-class respectability as a route to upward mobility.
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