And there you have it, that's the major issue we're facing: corporatocracy. It's the dominant system in place today, and it isn't capitalism. We moved beyond true capitalism a long time ago and replaced it with a system dominated by corporate interests. Competition is curtailed at every turn. In the United States, it's become so concentrated that we effectively have only three major cellular service providers serving the entire country.
As I said, capitalism works reasonably well when applied correctly. The problem is that we've allowed corporate power to run unchecked.
And don't get me wrong, I don't particularly like capitalism. I'm simply acknowledging that, so far, it has produced results. Compared to most of human history, we live in one of the most peaceful and prosperous periods ever. Despite everything happening in the world today, we have the best medicine, technology, and overall standard of living humanity has ever known.
Capitalism has accomplished a great deal, but the system we have now is increasingly serving concentrated corporate interests rather than fostering genuine competition. It's time to move away from what we're doing today and toward something that restores competition, accountability, and broad-based opportunity.