One of the supposed advantages of capitalist domination of our economies is that a group of profit seeking elites would at least put their thumb on the scale to stop economic self-owns like Brexit, instead the elites enthusiastically supported it at every juncture.
Excluding actual wars, Brexit is one of the greatest own-goals of all time. Britain and Europe had forged something their finest leaders and intellectuals considered an impossible dream: an alliance of shared prosperity.
Then Britain tore it up in a fit of nativist dipshittery.
This isn't quite your point, but I think a generation inspired by Michael Corleone and Hannibal Lecter has convinced us that evil is generally brilliant, just pure rational egoism, when actually evil and self-destructive stupidity go together far more often.
