I don't think capitalism was ever intended to be used the way it has been in recent years. It was supposed to be about free market competition and opportunity. Traditionally, companies that are run well are the winners. In recent years it seems the focus has been taken off of running a good business and put more on structuring things so that executives and Wall Street types can make a quick buck (actually, a lot of quick bucks!), often at the expense of employees and ultimately the consumer. This is just my opinion, but I think what we have been experiencing is a business fad. Twenty years from now, I'll bet college level business text books will talk about the failure of this period in American business history and the consensus will be, "what the heck were they thinking?!".

I don't think capitalism is dead. It's just a matter of how long it takes to get back to real capitalism instead of this bizarre distortion of it that we see today.