'The ladders of upward mobility were dismantled. Everywhere in the Western World Towers of Babel are being erected.'

https://www.amazon.com/NEW-LEFT-TYRANNY-Authoritarian-Destruction/dp/1949586081/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Hanne+Herland&qid=1590954827&s=books&sr=1-2
Historically, capitalism freed labor from bondage by making labor the private property of the person. Serfs who owed labor obligations to lords became free individuals. Free labor markets and emergent capitalism made productive by technological advancements created with time rising living standards and a free people determined to protect their independence by holding government accountable.
This system was eventually wrecked by banks that financialized the economy and diverted discretionary personal income to the payment of interests and fees to banks, and by global corporations that moved first world jobs to Asia, thus raising their profits at the expense of domestic consumer purchasing power and living standards. The result was the concentration of income and wealth in the hands of a few multi-billionaires.