By Aidan Bearden / Staff Writer

For more than 400 years, capitalism has dominated global economies.Since the fall of feudalism, people have supported the transfer of power from kings to the people through the ‘free market.’ However, the illusion of a ‘free market’ has poisoned the hope of the working class and failed the people. Through feudalism, wealth was only for the king. Now, with capitalism, wealth and ease are only for the bourgeois, and capitalism has failed Americans. 

According to economic data from the Federal Reserve, the top 1% of American households in wealth percentile control 31% of the American wealth distribution, and the bottom 50% control 2.5% as of 2025. The cancer of poor wealth distribution has spread from feudalism into modern America. According to the PNC Bank Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report, 67% of Americans reported working paycheck to paycheck in 2025. America has run into the same problem it escaped from with feudalism. The majority of the wealth is in the hands of the ultra-wealthy, and the majority of working citizens are struggling financially due to capitalism. On average, CEOs made 285 times more than their workers for S&P 500 Index companies in 2024. Under capitalism, the lower class struggles to live comfortably while working for the upper class, who live luxuriously and at ease. The workers are the fuel for a healthy economy, not the CEOs. 

Capitalism is often celebrated as the system that made America the wealthiest nation in the world. But at what cost? According to the Economic Research Service, 13.5% of households in America are food insecure. Being the richest country in the world isn’t something to take pride in if a large portion of its citizens are struggling to afford food. The Economic Research Service also reported that 8.9% of households with children are food insecure. Nobody chooses to be born into poverty. America cannot be considered a success if children are suffering for the benefit of the ultra-wealthy.

Capitalism makes it easy for the owning class to continue owning while the working class continues to work. School is often seen as a way to break free from the working class, but education isn’t equal in America. Funding for public schools is determined by local taxes, meaning the quality of education is heavily based on whether or not you were born into poverty. According to the American Psychological Association, children in low-income schools are less likely to have well-qualified teachers, fewer books, and fewer library resources. These are all correlated with worse educational outcomes. Furthermore, college is not free, and people who earned bachelor’s degrees, on average, make 86% more than those whose highest degree is a high school diploma, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But according to Gallup, a global analytics company, those struggling financially are significantly more likely to have considered stopping their program. So, although college is a valuable opportunity for future financial success, it’s difficult to finish college without financial relief.

Capitalism only has value with the creation of profit for the owners. Therefore, when there is less profit made, the economy goes into recession. Since capitalism supports private ownership of trade, the owner’s immediate interests are prioritized over the broader, comprehensive social interests of others. This immediate interest of private traders and the private ownership of banks is what usually causes economic recessions, hurting millions of working-class citizens. 

Beyond economic disasters, capitalism has also accelerated natural disasters. For years, scientists have warned of the degradation of our world caused by climate change. According to the United Nations, the primary causes of climate change consist of the generation of power by burning fossil fuels, manufacturing goods, overconsumption of goods, deforestation, and other causes. All of these causes can be decelerated with the removal of capitalism; however, they are all too profitable for capitalists to abandon. As previously stated, the main objective for capitalists is profit, not the overall well-being of society. Many other forms of power generation, such as solar energy and wind power, exist and are proven to be better for the planet, but the fossil fuel industry is too appetizing for capitalists. Overproduction and overconsumption of goods are also fatal consequences of capitalism, leading to an abundant amount of waste and unnecessary carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Deforestation is also a consequence of the overproduction and overexpansion of various businesses, such as farming. Forests play an important role in absorbing carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, and without forests, nature’s ability to prevent climate change is limited.

There is a plethora of other examples of capitalism failing America, such as health care, clientelism, and its trend to descend into fascism, but ultimately, capitalism prioritizes profit over human well-being. Capitalism has become the villain it once promised to destroy, and the effects have been consequential to society. To overcome capitalism, the working class must come together and fight back against the systemic abuse of the bourgeoisie by redistributing the wealth back to the people.