This observation is exactly the Marxist prediction of how capitalism gradually transforms society from early capitalism, which nearly fit the Econ 101 assumptions of many small producers and consumers and such, into something that operates economically more like communism by being centrally planned, but with the severe drawbacks of a minority ruling class and being run undemocratically on the basis of private profit not usefulness to people. This is an interesting book on the subject of how far we have come in this regard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People%27s_Republic_of_Wal...

Which is what the European Socialists have been calling "Late Capitalism" since I think the 60's about the period from the 30's onwards.

The problem is it's not easy to have an actual debate on this since to some folks questioning whether capitalism or this form of capitalism is serving societies needs rapidly gets you lumped in with the "communists".

At some point though it becomes impossible to hide that the Emperor does in fact have all the clothes and everyone else is naked by comparison.