And the fight continues. The founders were so far down, because basic freedoms for everyone is 0, and we have to fight to get up to that point. The founders negotiated a freeer society, like you said able to modify itself, and the general arc of soiety seems to be the expansion of freedom for the average person.
One day, we may even be able to eat without justifying our food through labor!
Yeah. Raising the bar on how profitable a company has to be is the middle step here that connects raising interest rates to shittier stuff for us.
Before, in the era of free money, you just had to be good at looking shiny to stay afloat, and companies that didn't look shiny got left behind. Now you have to be actually functional.
We've arrived at the future we were borrowing from for the last 15 years.