Frank, I'm no political theorist, but I believe what you are describing falls into what is known as "late stage capitalism," where greed reigns supreme. And if Marx is right, will eventually collapse.

As far as Hollywood goes, as bad as the studio system was in 30s-50s, and even how the studios operated in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, the companies all made gobs of profits, but also recognized they needed creatives to make stories which fueled the entire enterprise.

With the streaming services, specifically the Netflix model, that longstanding system is wrecked. It's no longer about profits. It's about growth and satisfying Wall Street each quarter. The streamers don't think of what writers do as "stories," rather it's "content." Therefore, almost by definition they don't get or even respect what writers do. In their push for "optimization," which means making the most profits with the least amount of money going to workers, they are killing the industry.

Hopefully, the WGA strike and settlement will corral the mindless greed of the C-suite gang at least a bit.

But the suits, especially at the legacy studios, are going to have to figure out how to extricate themselves from the streaming "trap" Netflix laid for them. None of them, aside from Netflix, are profitable. Meanwhile in their push to embrace streaming companies like Disney and Warners are saddled with enormous debt.

It looks like there's going to be a significant shakeout on that front over the next five years. Fortunately for writers, actors, directors and crews, they need stories (not content) to make the system work. IOW, there will always be a need for human writers.

Thanks for your thoughts. Best of luck in your creative endeavors.