Critical thinking about morality and capitalism is also lacking on the accumulation and retention of wealth. The concentration of the wealth of a nation, reduces the opportunity to become a millionaire yourself. People whose reason for being is acquisition of wealth for its own sake (who I will refer to in this piece as plutocrats) will jealously protect their own wealth, while trying to limit other's ability to become wealthy. Plutocrats will actively work to hinder anyone who, through ingenuity and hard work, threaten the plutocrat's ability to maximize their own wealth. The retention of wealth across generations further limits upward mobility, and plays into the Founding Fathers worst fears of establishing an aristocracy.
A third area where critical thinking about capitalism and morality fails is the concept of the "self-made man." This idea is an unrealistic, debilitating myth. As Dr. Einstein points out above, every person stands on the shoulders of those who preceded them, and in many cases on the shoulders of contemporaries: secretaries, clerks, attorneys, laborers, co-workers, mentors, bankers, bosses, etc..
Unlike Dr. Einstein, I am not a socialist. I agree with James Madison's observation in The Federalist Papers No. 47, that if men were angels, any form of government would work. Karl Marx's solutions to the many intrinsic ills of capitalism are dependent on working men and women (the proletariat) consistently being far more enlightened and altruistic than anyone can realistically expect.
I also strongly disagree with the belief of that school of philosophers, including Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Hobbes, who assume that human nature is inherently evil. Human nature constitutes a daunting paradox: alternately kind and cruel, generous and penurious, courageous and full of fear, caring and apathetic, wise and foolish. To quote Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to C.W.F. Dumas in 1788, "I have such reliance on the good sense of the body of the people and the honesty of their leaders that I am not afraid of their letting things go wrong to any length in any cause."
If Marx was overly dependent on the angelic behavior of the proletariat, laissez-faire capitalism is overly contingent on market forces and Adam Smith's metaphorical "invisible hand" to maintain competition and prevent abuses of the system. This unholy trinity of laissez-faire capitalism, market forces, and Smith's invisible hand, is a dogmatic faith that far too many Americans accept unconditionally.
Yet, I have never come across a single historical example where this trinity has, at a national level: 1) created and maintained a large, vibrant middle class; 2) established ongoing, widespread economic competition; 3) generated a continuous, society wide growth of a nation's wealth; 4) and insured a virtuous government responsive and responsible to all of its citizens; for more than two or three generations. Men are not angels: therefore all societal systems (economic, social, etc.) require a working system of checks and balances, not just the government.
A system of economic checks and balances must involve the limiting of corporations and their influence on government at every level. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wished to propose a constitutional amendment that would have limited corporations and their ability to pursue political or consolidate economic power. This included making it illegal for corporations to own other corporations, to give money to politicians, to otherwise try to influence elections. Corporations would be chartered by the states primarily to serve the public good. Corporations would possess a legal status not as natural persons, but instead as artificial persons, having only the legal attributes which the state saw fit to grant to them in their charter. (Dr. Michael P. Byron, "Jefferson was Right," from his 2002 campaign for California's 49th CD, www.byronforcongress.org/pages/Jefferson%20Was%20Right.htm, reprinted on the Liberal Slant website). Jefferson went to his grave believing Congress' failure to pass this Amendment was a danger to the nation he loved and helped found.
The regulation of business, not in terms of what they produce or when, but in terms of where and how--especially as they effect the surrounding community and the businesses' employees--is vital. Zoning and anti-pollution laws are examples of regulation of the where and how.
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