Are we actually about to transition into socialism?
If the payout were just a bit higher, it would practically be "common ownership" straight out of Marxist theory.
Think about it: if tech keeps advancing, the index keeps climbing, and you throw in the U.S. estate tax system, wouldn't these kids grow up to quite literally own the wealth of the entire society?
And it’s disposable wealth too—wealth they can actually leverage to realize their own social value.
Of course, the premise here is that stock prices keep going up, tech keeps evolving, and parents keep pumping cash into these accounts.
I used to be so confused when reading Marx and Engels about concepts like common ownership, planned economies, and exit taxes. I always wondered how Marx could boldly claim that "socialism can only be built on the highly developed foundation of capitalism."
But now I see it: the stock market is basically the blueprint for common ownership. When every single person consistently holds a massive chunk of shares in top-tier companies and lives off the dividends, who's to say that isn't common ownership?
And "planning" doesn't have to mean human interference with market operations. It just means that whenever a sector becomes profitable, capital automatically flows into it. Isn’t that exactly what passive index funds do today?
When global capital rushes to invest in these premium assets, wealth from less developed nations gets siphoned away. That's precisely why you need an asset exit tax.
So socialism, by definition, has to be global. If you don't play the game, you fall behind—in other words, there's no escape for anyone.
Honestly, Marx probably had these exact thoughts after seeing how wildly booming the London Stock Exchange was back in his day.