"When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth."
The problem is not the system per se, but the participants. We have a market system where most people are driven by the market, instead of driving the market. Meaning, most people/companies look to the market to see what 'works' and just do that, instead of contributing something new to the marketplace and creating real progress.