I think competition can be good, but the inherent corruption of capitalism has to be held back with serious regulation and an impartial government and court system or you end up with what we're seeing.

find a superior system that has succeeded by any measure.

It is a human system that will, if allowed, default to the lowest common denominator of human behavior. It has two saving graces, though-- that competition can prevent oligarchies from taking over, and that a democratic government is in there as a competitor when oligarchies do arise from unfair competition.

More and more I am coming to realize that the underlying value system is what is horrifically flawed.

We are on earth a short time. Each one of our lives is priceless. Profit and competing for survival should not be the focus and meaning of our existence while we are here.

1) Not everything should be about making a buck.
2) Government should never, EVER be run like a business; not even the most democratic business.
3) An economic system based on faith, competition over cooperation and war is doomed to crash like clockwork.

. . . . for those of us who knows what a crash feels like, that is . . .

Capitalism can work well.

I'd be interested in hearing alternatives, but this structure should work fine if there are deterring penalties for abusing power and position.

It's because they have stronger and smarter governments and regulation . . . something we'll never likely see here.

and swift acting responsible government. No system is essentially stable forever which is why you need constant vigilance.

also corrupt?

hence you can't just set up a regulatory body and walk away and pretend everything will be great forever. You need constant vigilance.

For example when we ended Jim Crow laws they set up a process by which to hopefully regulate against such laws in the future. But certainly such laws are creeping back into the election process and it is time to once again ask are we really regulating well our election process.

The world is forever transforming hence you need your government that actually wants to and is capable of governing. Which is the opposite of what Republicans promise.

It implies someone planned it. It's a mechanical feature that perpetuates itself, like bad code. You can regulate out the wazoo, but as long as you have a system where great wealth is concentrated, you are going to get wealthy people using their money to influence deregulation for greater profit.

If there were a system of rewards that were not wholly dependent on expanding profits, we might see this behavior begin to disappear. What could that system be called? Hmm, starts with an "S"...

and are prosperous are, for the most part, Socialist.

Capitalism is a way to organize the economy.

Democracy is a type of government.

Each has several different subspecies. Some combinations work better than others.

But some types of capitalism would be compatible with non-democratic governments, such as a dictatorship or monarchy.

Some types of democracy would be compatible with socialism, although nothing has lasted very long so far.

It's been a while since we were a capitalist society...we are a monopoly driven economy with central planning....by corporations.

because systems are designed to control human behavior. The selfish instinct of some humans will always find a way to circumvent and take advantage of those who submit to behave according to the rules.... regardless of the system.