Evolution is driven by the cycle of Feast and Famine. During the Feast life is good and easy. Everyone has their feet up, eating Bonbons, and daydreaming as the days go by. When the Famine comes the daydreams go away and life gets real… nasty, brutish, and short.

Capitalism depends entirely on people believing that currency has value… moreover, that currency is the only measure of value. This is an illusion,.. a daydream, for currency has no real value.

Famine exposes this lie. During a famine everyone learns very quickly that…
food and water have more value than currency;
shelter and clothing have more value than currency;
health and wellness have more value than currency; and
family and friends have more value than currency.

Capitalism cannot survive Famine. (I would argue, based on their actions, the bankers and executives know this.) It was FDR’s socialism that arrested the carnage of the Great Depression, and World War Two saved American capitalism. We have had a wartime capitalist economy ever since.

Thus, capitalism must always pursue constant growth – constant Feast – to keep people in their daydreams. (Constant war for this wartime economy.) The longer the Feast, the harder it is to maintain the Feast. Just like any other addiction. Which is why regulations threaten Capitalism’s Need For Constant Growth.

In the end, while it is possible to delay Famine for a while, it can never be stopped… and the meek shall inherit the Earth.

Our ancestors fled famine and lived like paupers in full contact with their environment. They used their ingenuity and wits to find the real value in the new world around them. Because of this, generations later, we have inherited the Earth… but only for a little while. We clearly took it for granted (which is probably normal) and we will pay dearly for this period of blind opulence.

A new economic system should be as effective during the Famine, as it is during the Feast. (Interestingly, from my perspective, Communism is a good system for a Famine, but it cannot survive a Feast.) We can either work to build one, or resign ourselves to cycling back and forth between freedom and fascism. Maybe that would be more natural. Certainly easier, as building a better system would require a complete cultural change… from the bottom to the top.