Capitalism
Real capitalism has ceased to exist in the world's most advanced economies. This is a very bold statement but true nonetheless. In 2008 national governments around the world decided that the largest financial institutions, including banks, were 'too big to fail' and bailed them out with public money. One of the most important concepts behind capitalism is that badly run and failing businesses are allowed to go bankrupt and be replaced with new, better run ones. This didn't happen in 2008. The desperate banks were instead saved by taxpayers money.
For capitalism to exist there must be capital - large pools of money used for investment. The global economy is, in fact, existing on debt. It has also reached the point where the largest businesses act as monopolies or cartels with fraud being tolerated by the authorities and fines imposed by governments becoming part of the business models of corporations. Fines for illegal behaviour have just become one of the expenses of doing business.
To really understand how this situation came into being and continues to operate we must first understand what money really is and how it is created.