It seems to me that capitalism, like communism, can exist in a variety of modes, some modes being more appropriate than others at different stages of a nation's political, social and/or economic development. Russian communism, for example, went through successive phases of "war communism," Lenin's NEP and the series of Five Year Plans. Fidel experimented with the failed mercados libres system in the 1980s.
One thing seems certain at this point in time, that American-style capitalism has failed. Sure, the Treasury can patch the system together for one more lurch forward, but how long will it be before the next big war, the next new culmination of a slow build-up of capitalist economic criminality, again bring the financial system to a crashing stop, and how long will it be before the Treasury just won't be able to bail out the system one more time?
What's gonna happen, IMHO, is that the view now held by the OWS movement will gradually move to take over more and more of the wage-slaves' and debt-slaves' convictions - - the view being, they're being worked long past a proper retirement age, given far less vacation time than other workers get, paying more money to get less health care than other workers and why? Because their totally corrupted government, which "can't afford" their benefits, tolerates business practices that in effect close down American factories to export jobs and prosperity to other countries at American workers' expense, engages in aggressive wars costing trillions of dollars, makes needless enemies (by the wars, by supporting Israel) that cost further hundreds of billions in "Homeland Security" and absolutely refuses to tax the rich and their properties at higher rates.
When that "tipping point" is reached, there probably won't be a communist revolution but it will have to lead to a new form of more highly regulated capitalism, a legislature that no longer can represent special interests, a massive stripping of assets from the so-called "1%" for some kind of equitable redistribution and ultimately a more truly democratic form of government. Maybe even some form of re-districting that gives more power and voice to regions rather than states - - the whole idea of a "state of Rhode Island" seems very anachronistic whatever the original rationalization may have been.
