20-30 years from now, with automation having rendered entire classes of workers obsolete, with the resultant gains having been gobbled by the same actors who have dominated global commerce these last 80+ years - I think we'll find then what the end game really looks like.

There are no free markets - and never will be. The idea that market forces will prevent revolution is so naïve I have trouble that anyone actually believes it, and yet... here we are.

Either automation frees us from labor, or the labor will tear down the machines. It's as simple as that.