The market system has worked favorably for major corporations to consolidate from thousands in free competition into a handful, thanks to cronyism. "Competition is a sin." The majority of working capital in a few hands, and the working class living hand to mouth (the little capital they possess funneled back into conglomerate bank indices), there's an ever intensifying cartel system.

Capital has concentrated to the point where the market becomes a monopoly, which puts people in utter dependence. If AI eats the lunch of the remaining free market (small-mid business), there is no advantage for capital to maintain a high or growing population, as they've already achieved complete domination. They would rather have a small manageable number of the most destitute and compliant, which is why war and immigration from the poorest nations is Western hegemony's number one priority. And we see from every "democratic" country, policy to decimate native birthrates through cultural and legislative genocide.