The worst part is that adopting a tiny modicum of “progressive” politics would actually make them (the country as a whole, but also the bourgeoisie) more money in the end, just based on the fact that you can’t run a capitalist society in any meaningful sense if your working class can’t afford to live (and thus make surplus value available to the owner-class). More public transport would make it hella easier for a business to recruit a workforce from places with lower rents and further commutes, more money in the pocket for consumers means more consumption, etc. etc. There was that survey a few years back that showed that if wealth were to be redistributed fairly, the average American would be almost twice as rich.

The problem is really that certain segments of capitalist society would not be so overwhelmingly powerful, and easing up on military adventures would mean a resurgence of workers rights in many parts of the world… It’s not enough to be the richest country if you can’t also make the rest of the world poor.