Capitalism, socialism, and communism are all growth-based systems predicated on an expanding population to balance labor, capital, and demand. As the world enters demographic decline with shrinking working-age populations, the fundamental assumptions of these 500-year-old models collapse, requiring a complete reinvention of economic theory.

To counter the economic threat from China's state-directed capitalism, the U.S. is ironically being forced to adopt similar strategies. This involves greater government intervention in capital allocation and industrial policy, representing a convergence of economic models rather than a clear victory for free-market capitalism.

Sir Ronald Cohen suggests that economic systems like communism fail because they suppress the natural human instinct to strive. The goal should not be to eliminate capitalism's encouragement of striving, but to evolve it by redirecting that powerful drive toward achieving both financial profit and positive societal impact.

Historian Sven Beckert argues that capitalism did not originate in Europe and spread outward. Its very existence from the start depended on planetary connections and co-production between many cultures, making it inherently global from its inception, not a Western invention.

Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, which ignited China’s growth, were based on adopting American free-market principles like private enterprise and foreign capital. China’s success stemmed from decentralizing its economy, the very system the U.S. is now tempted to abandon for a more centralized model.

The prevalent model of granting employees stock options (RSUs) in Silicon Valley isn't an emergent phenomenon but a direct legacy of a single company: Fairchild Semiconductor. This demonstrates that a new model for capitalism can be established by the actions of just one pioneering firm.

Historian Sven Beckert frames capitalism as a constantly shape-shifting system. Its dramatic evolution over 1,000 years—from colonial models to Keynesianism—suggests the current neoliberal order is not a permanent state but will likely be replaced by a substantially different version.

Despite the massive growth of retail investing, politicians rarely campaign on platforms that directly address the interests of shareholders as a distinct societal group. This contrasts with other economic groups, leaving a large and financially significant portion of the population without direct political representation for their investments.

The system often blamed as capitalism is distorted. True capitalism requires the risk of failure as a clearing mechanism. Today's system is closer to cronyism, where government interventions like bailouts and regulatory capture protect established players from failure.