The future of finance is self-driving money
&gt; 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and most Americans would struggle to cover an unexpected $400 expense.
&gt; How did we get here? 
&gt; Why aren’t we doing better?
&gt; Managing Money is Hard<p>We aren&#x27;t here because millions of Americans didn&#x27;t manage their savings optimally.  They went to work, played by the rules, and saved what they could.  We&#x27;re here because the gains due to productivity growth for the last 40 years have increasingly gone to the to top wealth and income percentiles.  That is the result of tax and trade policies changes that began in the 1970s and were cemented by the 1990s.<p>Meanwhile, concurrent with those changes, the cost of things that used to be &quot;basics&quot;, like health care, higher education, and housing, have skyrocketed, while previously &quot;universal&quot; rights like good public primary education have been turned into lotteries.  Society&#x27;s capital has been sold to the highest bidder, and most of us have had no choice but to be part of that auction.<p>None of this is to excuse banks extracting revenue from savers via fees, or other similar practices pointed out in the article, but better management of personal financial capital won&#x27;t be effective in helping people who can&#x27;t cover an unexpected $400 expense, because those people have no financial capital to begin with, and due to tax policies designed to keep wealth in dynasties, their children likely won&#x27;t have any capital either.