There is no such thing as a spindle-shaped structure; the so-called spindle-shaped society is merely outsourcing low-income jobs at the bottom to foreigners. From a global income structure perspective, it is absolutely pyramid-shaped. In certain countries, the spindle shape represents the high-profit/high-income portion that this country has obtained in the social division of labor, while the slowdown in population growth is conducive to a more equitable income distribution.

Similarly, you can consider Shanghai as a spindle-shaped society because the middle-income level in Shanghai is not low. However, the spindle-shaped income structure in Shanghai is based on the low income from other regions and rural areas.

Therefore, if we aim to improve people's livelihoods (more people with higher incomes), we need to pursue two points:

1/ The country climbs to higher profit segments in international division of labor.

2/ More reasonable distribution.

From the perspective of higher profit segments, let's look at net profit margins:

• Currency issuance has the highest profit margin, almost 99.9% profit (like the US dollar).

• High technology: for example, Nvidia chips have a net profit margin of 55%, Microsoft has a net profit margin of 37%.

• Brands: for example, Nike has a net profit margin of 10%, Hermès has 30%.

• Resources like oil and minerals.

…

It can be seen that, apart from the mining industry, which is blessed by nature, the two key points for earning high profits are R&D and consensus building. Of course, this has never been achieved overnight; if you are a rural bumpkin from Laos, and you try to build a brand, no one will pay attention to you. High-profit industries need medium-profit sectors like manufacturing to support them. Therefore, China is currently in a critical period of transitioning from medium profits to high profits. The current investment in R&D should be considerable, but the establishment of consensus is still far from sufficient.

In contrast, manufacturing itself has relatively low profits (China is currently in this stage), and agricultural profits are also not high unless there is large-scale production and technological advancement.

Now, let's talk about the distribution issue.

Distribution should be viewed from two angles: one is the number of people. The more laborers there are, the harder it is for workers to get a larger share of the pie. Capitalism did not start out as a gentle system; the African slave trade, the enclosure movement, and American plantations were all bloody. However, later on, the growth of labor did not keep pace with economic growth, forcing capital to give labor more power and compensation. Conversely, the future development of AI and robots will inevitably lead to worse treatment for "humans" - this is almost predetermined.

The second angle is circulation; different economic cycles have different frequencies. For example, if an economy's flow is towards the middle class or the poor, then 1 yuan can circulate many times. A joke is that you tip a Douyin female streamer 10 yuan, and then that night she takes a taxi and pays you back the 10 yuan through your Didi. From this perspective, the circulation of services is more frequent than that of goods because services involve more human interaction, while the funds for purchasing goods go into factories.

To summarize:

1/ There is no spindle-shaped society; there are only different stages of division of labor.

2/ R&D and consensus building are the ways to earn high profits; China is currently climbing this ladder.

3/ A decreasing population is conducive to income distribution, while a service economy favors circulation; both contribute to a more equitable income distribution.

4/ The future is not optimistic; AI may bring humanity back to a past class society.

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