What Happened to Capitalism?

What has happened to capitalism in America? Businesses still pursue profit, yes, but not in ways that advance the public interest. Over the past 50 years, corporate profits rose by 185%. Wages rose by 1%. American industry lost its technological edge, from semiconductors to commercial aerospace to robotics. Investment stalled, so much so that the entire corporate sector became a net lender, handing money back to financial markets faster than it tapped those markets for capital to invest. As American Affairs editor Julius Krein has observed, if $1 trillion in annual stock buybacks are to be taken at face value and “there are in fact no better investments to be made, … it calls into question the viability of the free market capitalist system itself.”

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-WiscoDave