In the short run, yes. However in the long run, their profits have to shrink. They’ll try recovering that from labor. If labor responds with organizing, the oligarchs would see their profits shrink further. Further, the West won’t close up wholesale. Some parts would, others wouldn’t. If people in the insular parts see people having it better across the border, they might vote to have that too. Assuming such a change could happen somewhat democratically. I don’t think the West would be able to insulate long term. But that’s a bet based on a lot of assumptions that could turn out wrong.
That’s all true, but capitalism encourages short term thinking, so they’ll do whatever they see as necessary to secure quarterly profits. In the long run that will lead to the problems you describe and further erode faith in the system as a whole.
In the short run, yes. However in the long run, their profits have to shrink. They’ll try recovering that from labor. If labor responds with organizing, the oligarchs would see their profits shrink further. Further, the West won’t close up wholesale. Some parts would, others wouldn’t. If people in the insular parts see people having it better across the border, they might vote to have that too. Assuming such a change could happen somewhat democratically. I don’t think the West would be able to insulate long term. But that’s a bet based on a lot of assumptions that could turn out wrong.
That’s all true, but capitalism encourages short term thinking, so they’ll do whatever they see as necessary to secure quarterly profits. In the long run that will lead to the problems you describe and further erode faith in the system as a whole.