The government no longer allows healthy recessions that clear out inefficient businesses. By bailing out failing companies, it creates a massive moral hazard, encouraging corporations to take extreme risks with the expectation that "Uncle Sam" will provide a safety net if they fail.

When government policy protects wealthy individuals and their investments from the consequences of bad decisions, it eliminates the market's self-correcting mechanism. This prevents downward mobility, stagnates the class structure, and creates a sick, caste-like economy that never truly corrects.

Preventing market corrections and bailing out established businesses protects the wealth of older generations at the expense of the young. Recessions and asset dips are healthy, as they allow those in their prime income-earning years to buy assets like stocks and real estate cheaply—a crucial mechanism for wealth building that is now being stifled.

The primary economic tension is no longer simply rich versus poor, but between incumbents who own assets (homes, degrees) and entrants trying to get in. Incumbents have weaponized government and regulation to create scarcity, making it nearly impossible for younger, middle-class entrants to achieve economic mobility.

The potential bailout of Spirit Airlines fundamentally misunderstands capitalism. Bankruptcy is not a bug to be fixed but a crucial feature that allows failing companies to restructure and adapt to market changes. Using public funds to prevent this process creates cronyism and props up unsustainable businesses.

Galloway notes that modern tax policy systematically transfers capital from wage earners to asset owners. Corporate tax contributions as a percentage of GDP are at historic lows, while taxes paid by wage earners have reached all-time highs. Tax preferences like mortgage interest deductions and lower capital gains rates primarily benefit older asset holders, while younger people predominantly rely on wage labor and rent, forcing them to shoulder an unfair economic burden.

The potential bailout of Spirit Airlines highlights a debate over a key U.S. economic advantage: the ability to let businesses fail. Propping up 'zombie companies' misallocates scarce resources and harms healthier competitors, undermining the dynamic reallocation of capital that drives long-term productivity and growth.

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.

The economic system champions individual responsibility for the middle class but provides government bailouts and shields large corporations and the wealthy from failure. This cronyism prevents creative destruction, calcifies the class structure, and stifles opportunities for new entrants.