Guns run out of bullets. I don't think you are seriously thinking of what a mob of say 50k people with absolutely nothing to lose is capable of doing. The Chine

Guns run out of bullets. I don't think you are seriously thinking of what a mob of say 50k people with absolutely nothing to lose is capable of doing. The Chinese factory workers aren't rising up because the govt still has more than enough power to quell things and more than enough people benefit from the current system to "keep it in play". I was responding to a proposed future in which a very small number of people had everything and everyone was entirely subservient to them for even their most basic needs. What reason would exist for not rising up against the elites? It's not like that hasn't actually happened numerous times in recorded history. Especially if the situation was worse than it had ever been. How is any government overthrown ever if all it takes is superior weapons to hold control? I wasn't suggesting they would literally use stones, only that there are weapons that don't require the means of manufacturing to produce. I don't think people understand that there isn't anything inherently pre-determined or inherently stable in the current status quo and people, when faced with no real shot at anything in life, tend to react poorly (and violently). Money is only useful in a stable political system where rule of law exists. The richest man in Somalia probably doesn't sleep terribly well.