Joe, great article, but I’m not convinced capitalism is the problem, at least not with Marxist theory as the alternative. From 1950–1980, capitalism, combined with smart fiscal policy, created a near-ideal socioeconomic balance. That’s the model. The problem is not capitalism. The problem is that the people have allowed greed to corrupt their political system.

The fiscal-political system no longer works for the middle-class, but is now controlled by a small number of ultra-wealthy interests (oligarchy-plutocracy). Moreover, that same political system — designed to protect our commons — has allowed the commons to be gutted (generally by the same small forces of ultra-wealth greed.) That’s both a national and transnational problem.

What’s needed is a capitalism that (1) seeks national and trans-national balance of the commons, and (2) continually seeks ideal national socioeconomic balance (think 1950–1980) via smart fiscal policy (this is a dynamic requirement because global economics is also constantly changing.) These requirements are really little more than the core hallmarks of smart social democracy.