A lot of good food for thought here, but then it goes off the rails:<p>&gt; <i>But capitalism needs to keep everyone working at a manic pace, boosting productivity endlessly and recouping none of it in real wage growth, and that requires the concept of the loser.</i><p>I am no great cheerleader of capitalism, I could go on and on about the way people worship at the alter of &quot;free markets&quot; as if a market is inherently virtuous, but this is utter hogwash.  Capitalism does not require the concept of a loser. It&#x27;s the base human instinct of comparison to ones neighbor that requires the concept of a loser.  Making everyone happy and prosperous beyond ones immediate tribe is just not an instinctive goal in large-scale humanity.