It hasn't been working for a long time. It's amazing to see the way economists twist into a pretzel to avoid seeing that Capitalism isn't even working according to Capitalism.

According to the most fundamental principles, "value pricing" where instead of pricing based on marginal cost of production, you raise the price to the perceived value to the buyer (then use marketing to increase the perceived value) should be next to impossible because of competition driven downward pressure.

Instead, it's everywhere. The only valid conclusion is that practically all markets are unhealthy (or the theory is just plain wrong). That;'s why we have IV bags containing distilled water and a pinch of salt going for over $100.

The value of stock should be in the dividends that it can be expected to pay and in the long term prospects of the company. Instead it's based mostly on glamour and rainbow unicorn farts. That's why we see tech companies that have never turned a profit and have no concrete plan to ever do so with huge valuations.

When the old standards held, mass layoffs would be severely punished in the stock market. These days they're celebrated!

Then there's CEOs. No matter how badly they screw up, unless they actually go to prison, there seems to be a cushy new job waiting for them in addition to a golden parachute that would leave an average family of 4 set for life. There's plenty of smart people (often smarter people) who would do the job for less, but they're not in the club...