We are in the age of Late Stage Capitalism, or what I call 'Captured Capitalism'. We don't generate 'surplus-value' from mass production anymore, rather we generate it by 'capturing' consumers. Corporations want to capture consumers by using debt, rent-trapping, and intellectual property. The government is in on it by controlling consumption, and supporting corporate control.

Your nostalgia for the 'good old days' of capitalism is misplaced. I think there were always robber barons. Thus the rise of communism and socialism around the world. I think early capitalism worked so well because there was so much 'natural resources' to exploit. Now that we are seeing diminishing returns, the only solution is more 'capturing' of consumption. This can only go on so long until the consumer is tapped out.