By Chris Harman.
A huge conundrum confronts us which none of the established political parties can come to terms with. More wealth is being produced than ever before in history. There are inventions for increasing the output of all sorts of things, including the basic foods denied to generations of humanity. Human beings can conquer outer space and explore the depths of the oceans. They can use machines to do backbreaking toil or send information from one side of the world to the other in a fraction of a second. Yet far from the burden of securing a livelihood getting lighter it is often getting heavier. Instead of people looking forward to living more prosperous and comfortable lives, often they can only live in fear of things getting worse. Far from poverty disappearing, it grows.