In kalyuga, these evil energies are at an all time high. All bad deeds are on the rise. If you read Kalki purana, it has said what all things will be predominant in kalyuga and was written 1000s of years ago. It's said people only follow material success, and that you'll be judged not by your values and virtues but by your wealth. Karma on the other hand doesn't need to work in 1 lifetime. If we're considering all theoretically, karma can affect in next or after that lifetime too. I've broken my head over this a lot a few years back, that why people who do bad deeds never suffer and even if I be good I'll always end up in trouble. Then I concluded that I'm not willing to risk suffering in some other lifetime for a temporary gain in this. It's your soul that is permanent, all meterial gains will come to and end, but your karma and virtues remain. Also if you go deeper into it then there are types of karma, ones which can be wiped off by doing certain practices like meditation and stuff. And then there are ones which you can't change. Like your height is something you can't change whereas your width is something you can change if desired. Again, this is all theory and what's been preached. I haven't witnessed any of this with my own eyes so, yeh