[skybrian]

You can pretty it up with economic reasoning but that's still an essentially panglossian view of the world - a naive belief that fortunate people probably deserve their good fortune and unfortunate people probably did something wrong.

[ikeboy]

I had like three disclaimers in that comment.

But if you're going to criticize capitalism, maybe you could offer an alternative that does better?

[skybrian]

I'm not criticizing capitalism. There are a lot of good things you can say about capitalism. It results in some efficient organizations being created, a lot of useful work getting done, and everyone having incentives to increase productivity and reduce waste. It produces a lot of wealth. I don't think we would do better without markets.

Like evolution, capitalism exists so we need to describe it and understand it. It's definitely a force to be reckoned with.

It's not a system for approximating justice. It doesn't result in people getting what they deserve, even approximately.

The problem isn't only the cheating but also the randomness, which basically gives outsized rewards for being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Anyone watching the tech industry knows this.

If the people who end up with the money choose to spend it to pursue justice, sometimes the world becomes a better place. But nothing in economic theory guarantees it will happen. It's up to people to do it.