The pandemic and rebounding economy are huge factors here. It’s a huge part of inflation as demand far outstrips supply.
The other thing that was happening anyway is that we’re losing our edge when it comes to benefiting from China’s labor and environmental practices. As they tighten up their costs, compete for resources, etc, things will continue go down hill.
Is capitalism one entity? If so, it seems a little weird to ascribe a conscious will upon it.
I hope you’re onto something here. Since 3D printing started becoming accessible a decade or so back, there have been huge hopes pinned on what can be done. So far, most people have some crummy looking business card holders and that’s about it. It is used in some high tech applications of course but it doesn’t seem to have fulfilled its promise yet.
Jay Leno has been advocating for 3D printing car parts for a long time and he has shared some spectacular examples. The problem is that he’s Jay Leno and he can afford to invest $15k of an engineer’s time to make a valve cover for a 1949 Packard or whatever.