[danw1979]

People have been speculating on future returns since forever.

The East India company (an example of capitalism gone very very wrong) was speculatively founded with £4m (in today’s money) and went on to corner half of global trade.

This rose-tinted past of honest capitalism did not exist.

[drzaiusx11]

I like your term "honest capitalism". I'm putting that in my back pocket for later.

Capitalism breeds monopolies by rewarding first movers with economic advantages via feedback loop. This is how the system is designed to work, always has been, always will be.