However tenuous the connection may be, this makes me thing of the central 'point' of the book Trying Not To Try. The author argues that societies oscillate between favoring conservative and 'liberal' values over time, and that neither extreme is ideal.

In a way, perhaps capitalism can be seen as the 'liberal' side, where there is an explosion of development and innovation at the expense of stability, social cohesion and safety.

Maybe our biggest long-term challenge is figuring out a way to maintain a balance and keep either 'side' from winning or at least stabilizing the oscillation a bit.

Is it ironic? Europe's great modern wealth is socialist capitalism.

The original canonical work on capitalism, Adam Smith's "On the Wealth of Nations" lays this out clearly.