In the old days of the Cold War and the Soviet Union, the general argument was that Communism was a failure while capitalism was a success. It was an easy argument to make back then. Under communism, consumers waited in lines for hours to by scraps of meat, no one could afford an automobile, consumer goods were poorly made, expensive when available and usually unavailable. In contrast, under capitalism, everyone could eat meat of good quality and in quantity, most workers could afford automobiles and even their own homes, and consumer goods were well made, available and affordable. Even more importantly, communism was never going to catch up, despite Nikita Kruschev's threat, "We will bury you.", which was made in reference to the East's productive capacity.
Things have changed since then.
No one talks about communism anymore. Yes, China is still communist, but it looks a lot more like fascist Italy or Germany in terms of state managed rapid urbanization and industrialization combined with a highly censored, highly controlled police state. No one cranking out iPads in Shanghai is working to overthrow the capitalism and claim ownership of the means of production for the workers.
People do talk about capitalism, but they don't sound like the old fashioned capitalists of the Cold War. The capitalists of the Cold War talked about rising living standards, more and better stuff, and even higher standards of living and more stuff for one's children and grandchildren. Back then, capitalism was on a roll. It was a great productive force that not only could feed everyone, but offered the kinds of things that few other societies could, automobiles, houses with garages, transistor radios, console televisions, dishwashers and thick cut sirloin steaks.
Don't laugh. Those kinds of things are important. There is little good to be said for a system that requires everyone to scrape by on rice gruel and live in a tar paper hovel, though this would result in a smaller carbon footprint.
But capitalists don't talk that way before. All they talk about is the need to sacrifice. Americans need to work longer before retirement. They need to make do without adequate health care. They shouldn't have listened to the experts and foolishly bought houses that they couldn't afford in a downturn. They should have invested in a proper hedge fund or been a partner at Goldman Sachs rather than relying on their employer's 401k plan. The list goes on, and it isn't pretty. Maybe Americans can afford to buy automobiles, but we cannot afford to maintain our road system, let alone expand and refine it. Maybe Americans can afford to eat steak now and then, but there's no way to ensure that the meat is safe.
Worse, there isn't much promise for our children and grandchildren. Sure, they'll have lower tax rates if they manage to become multi-millionaires, but they will probably never manage to pay off their education loans, let alone buy a house, with or without a garage. They might never even have a full time job, let alone a career.
That just isn't the way capitalists talked back during the Cold War. Now, even the proponents of capitalism aren't very optimistic. The old elixir just isn't what it used to be. Sure, capitalism may have the moral high ground, and it did win the Cold War, but don't expect too much from it. Capitalism is a frail reed, a fragile flower, and even the slightest hint of adversity can do what the "invincible might" of the Soviet Union could not do, destroy it.
Where is the robust capitalism of yore? What are the benefits of this mightiest of productive systems? They aren't rising wages or living standards. Home ownership, an old age pension, and proper medical care all seem to have been dropped from the prospectus.
This wouldn't be quite so bad if these were the voices of capitalism's detractors, communists, socialists, Maoists, or Bolsheviks. But, these are the voices of capitalism's fans, its supporters, its fiery advocates. Even capitalism's very best friends seem hard pressed to say something positive on its behalf. There is no other interpretation; this a sure sign that capitalism has failed, RIP.