The description is a vast oversimplification of the fall of the Roman Empire, of course.

Like the game Monopoly, unrestrained capitalism will always end up with a few people owning almost all the value while everyone else live in poverty, and it will always end up in systemic collapse because you can’t get infinite value out of finite resources. At some point the game will be over.

But unrestrained capitalism doesn’t exist, even in today’s very unequal world. There are forces that undo the momentum of capitalism, including taxation, regulation, trade barriers, and public goods and services. Some countries do this better than others.

I happen to think that regulated capitalism, balanced with a heavy emphasis of wealth taxation and investment in public goods and properties, is better than any other system that relies on non-monetary control of resources. It can be sustainable, but not in its current state.