What the End of Feudalism Tells Us About Capitalism’s Inevitable Demise
Late stage capitalism is all the rage right now. This is especially true for younger generations — mine included — who believe there is no way out of the economic mess we’re in.
Despite all the doom and gloom, there is light at the end of the tunnel. To get there, however, we’ll have to give up capitalism as we know it and embrace something entirely new.
We’ve been here before. Following the Black Death, Europe underwent radical political, social, and economic transformation. With the death of millions of peasants, feudalism came to an end. But that didn’t happen overnight. It took centuries for a new economic model to emerge — capitalism.
If the United States is indeed in late stage capitalism, a new alternative economic model is in the process of being built. Maybe it will be a digitally native and decentralized economy. Maybe it won’t.
History tells us that transitions take time. We may be instrumental in building the new system that emerges, but it’s likely we won’t have the opportunity to benefit from it.
This essay will examine how the Black Death was a catalyst for massive economic change in Europe during the Middle Ages. It will argue that capitalism emerged as a reaction to the failures of feudalism rather than…
