[saulpw]

Let's not conflate "capitalism" with a "market economy". Capitalism is where the investors/shareholders reap most if not all of the rewards from market successes, while the innovators and problem-solvers are paid a fixed salary and given nominal (and often ephemeral) equity.

An alternative system could reward all stakeholders equitably, instead of just investors. The larger set of stakeholders include employees, customers, even members of the community that don't actively participate in the business (but they sure are affected by the business' success--witness traffic problems in Seattle caused largely by the growth of Microsoft and Amazon).

It's a brilliant trick the capitalist class has played on us (and apologies to those of you on the capital side--it's probably not your individual fault), to get us to believe that the only way to get competition and innovation is to take their money and give them all the profits.