Yes Capitalism gets hijacked by the very same set of conditions and players who are its strongest proponents. This is precisely what all socialist thinkers have been warning against. Free market conditions established on the principles fair play and level playing field for the key components of a capital generating system namely the capitalist, the working class , the consumers, all regulated by an impartial state, is an illusion at best. As history testifies the state is never an impartial player. In a political system rigged to favor the capitalist, tax laws, labor laws, land acquisition laws are rigged to favor the capitalist . As witnessed during the Reagan and Thatcher years, labor unions were suppressed ,genuine labor reforms were stymied and valid labour demands were summarily dismissed as regressive and obstructionist.
On the other hand a conservative socialist political system riggs the system to favor the working class, where the genuine requirements of the capitalists to control profit and protect capital is sacrificed at the altar of working class interests. With the collapse of the socialist political system around the world, the world is increasingly veering towards anti labourism. Working class is increasingly viewed as an enabling force for capitalists and hence govts world over, including the so called socialist states, are coming out with steps that seeks make labor cheap and affordable for the business class. There is only one way to make labor cheap and affordable, roll back all pro labor legislation and rules which when it was in enforce guaranteed workers minimum wages, fixed working hours, provided for effective insurance against death, poor health and accidents, guaranteed against summary layoffs.
Now the mantra is make labor competitive, whether this means to disenfranchise the worker of his genuine rights is moot.
P:S - Yes its better to be poor worker in contemporary times than any other time in our past, all thanks to the sacrifices of socialists revolutionaries who envisioned a world where the status of worker was not synonymous with slavery, where being being a laborer was not an an automatic death sentence due to poor work condition, no statutory rest day, no health insurance. Trust me its better to be poor worker in 2019 than it was to be a poor worker in the 18th century.
