For forty years Americans were promised that free markets and relentless profit would lift all boats. Instead the tide reversed: the top one percent doubled its share of wealth while the middle class lost jobs to Henan and Hanoi. Boards chased cheap labor; payroll taxes replaced progressive rates; interest on soaring federal debt flowed back to the very lenders who dodged taxation. Covid‑19, inflation, and endless wars compounded the strain, leaving workers as anxious as Rust Belt towns after the mills dimmed. Tariffs now shield aging factories but hike grocery bills, a reminder that protection is not prosperity. Meanwhile China’s state‑steered hybrid capitalism—half public muscle, half private speed—turns lithium, labor, and policy into the world’s cheapest electric cars, exposing the limits of America’s once untouchable model. Both systems still run on the same engine: a small circle issuing orders while the many obey. History shows hierarchies can fall as fast as they rise—from Versailles to Detroit. If the next era of growth belongs to workplaces where decisions move with the hands that build value, the real contest isn’t between nations but between democracy and the boardroom. Will we reinvent capitalism before its promises expire altogether?
