Capitalism has great merit in the production of goods and services. But it fails miserably in the distribution of the gains from the production. And you laud the merits of competitive capitalism (“how much can I, as an individual, own, produce, manage, and accumulate?”), but competitive capitalism is very difficult to find these days. Capitalism is about accumulation, and tends, if not checked, toward monopoly. In America especially, but also around the world, capitalism has gone unchecked since 1980, and market concentration has gone hand-in-hand with income, wealth, and political power concentration. The top 1% took home 8% of the income in the early 60s; the same group takes home a quarter of every dollar's worth of production today. Almost every dollar of increased productivity since 1980 has been captured by the wealthiest 1%. That is unsustainable, and indefensible.

Yes, capitalism has its merits. But today's capitalism is wrong for most Americans. I don't see how it is changed without major upheaval. The entire system needs to be broken down and rebuilt.