History Memes - The rise of the merchant class is one of the most important events in history

It's a fair point, however-

The industrial revolution and it's consequences…

We will never solve scarcity. Not so long as we have needs. People will need food, cities will need power, and when we have a handle on scarcity, the incentive of capital gain turns from a necessity to a luxury that increases people's quality of life. People will compete to make better things.

But I don't think we're as divided on this topic as it seems. Capitalism is a very broad term. There is good capitalism and there is bad capitalism. Letting people benefit their communities and sustain themselves from doing so, such as people who open stores or innovate, is good capitalism. This is the ideal free market, where those who help society are rewarded so they can continue to help.

There is also bad capitalism. Mega corps, monopolies, people who ride off of the success of others and maliciously crush their competition to "cheat" the system. They aren't helping people. They're just thee only choice we have since they got rid of the competition. They aren't solving problems, they're creating the illusion of problems and selling snake oil to "fix" them. (like the IPhone losing the headphone jack).

Forgoing capitalism entirely and dismissing the system as a whole is just silly. Instead, we should take notes from the peasants who thought "we should improve society somewhat" and improve upon the system. Break up monopolies, put regulations in place to protect consumers, and address malicious practices.