Capitalism today stands at a crossroads, weighed down by contradictions that threaten both its legitimacy and survival. For decades, the system has promised prosperity, innovation, and freedom, yet what we see around us is inequality, ecological breakdown, and repeated financial crises. The global pandemic further revealed the fragility of markets and the centrality of the state, while climate change exposes the devastating consequences of unchecked growth. The very foundations of capitalism are shaken, and it is no longer possible to ignore the crisis.

While I agree with critics such as Mariana Mazzucato, who argue in Mission Economy that capitalism must be reshaped to serve collective missions, I must part ways with her on one central point: the use of the word equality. I disagree with the term because it has always carried a dubious meaning under capitalism. It is employed primarily in a political sense—citizens are declared equal before the law, equal at the ballot box, equal in rights of speech and association. But this form of equality is superficial, even misleading. The deeper economic equality—the right to a fair share of wealth, ownership, and opportunity—is excluded from capitalist discourse.

This selective use is not an accident. Capitalism thrives on inequality. By confining “equality” to the political realm, the system creates the illusion of fairness while protecting the structures of class and privilege. A worker and a billionaire may both have one vote, but their ability to shape policy, markets, and even culture could not be more unequal. Thus, equality becomes not a principle of justice but a mask of legitimacy. It is repeated in political slogans to pacify the public, while the economic order entrenches deeper and deeper divides.

This is one reason capitalism is now in crisis: the contradiction between political equality and economic inequality has grown too visible to conceal. As wages stagnate, wealth concentrates, and precarious labor expands, people see through the hollow promise of equality. Discontent breeds polarization, populism, and instability. The mask no longer holds.

At the heart of this crisis lies the question of finance. In theory, finance should be the engine of productive investment, directing resources to innovation, infrastructure, and industries that advance human well-being. In practice, however, finance is financing fire. Instead of building futures, it fuels speculation, bubbles, and destructive extraction. Capital chases short-term profits, stock buybacks, and mergers that enrich shareholders but hollow out companies and communities. Financial institutions continue to pour billions into fossil fuels even as climate change accelerates. Debt traps, predatory lending, and housing speculation devastate lives across the globe.

Like fire, finance is a force of immense potential—it can warm and build, but when left uncontrolled it burns and destroys. In its current form, finance scorches the very ground on which society stands. It no longer channels savings into productive uses but devours value, leaving behind ashes of instability and despair.

Mazzucato, in Mission Economy, argues that the only way forward is to redirect finance and innovation toward collective missions, much like the Apollo moonshot once did. The moon landing was not achieved by markets alone; it required the vision, coordination, and investment of the state, in partnership with business and science, guided by a clear and ambitious goal. Today, we need the same mission-oriented approach for the grand challenges of our age: climate sustainability, universal healthcare, digital transformation, and social justice.

But missions cannot succeed if they rely on the hollowed-out rhetoric of equality. They must confront the economic structure directly. Markets must be shaped by public purpose, not the other way around. Governments must set the direction of investment, ensuring that finance serves society rather than speculating against it. Innovation must be measured not by the number of patents or unicorn start-ups but by whether it reduces inequality, protects the environment, and enhances collective well-being.

Capitalism’s defenders argue that the system has always thrived on inequality, that disparities of wealth are necessary to incentivize growth. Yet this very logic has led us to the edge of collapse. Inequality now undermines democracy itself, as concentrated wealth buys influence, captures regulators, and dictates policy. Ecological destruction is no longer a distant problem but a present danger, as floods, wildfires, and droughts intensify. The cycle of financial crisis—2008 being the most dramatic recent example—threatens to repeat with greater force. A system that consumes its own foundations cannot endure.

The task, then, is not to return to some imagined golden age of capitalism but to chart a new direction. This means acknowledging that markets are not neutral, spontaneous forces but human-made institutions shaped by power and policy. If capitalism is to survive, it must be restructured on mission-oriented lines: finance subordinated to public purpose, innovation aligned with societal goals, and ownership models diversified to include cooperatives, community wealth, and public options.

Above all, the mask of equality must be lifted. Political rights are meaningless if they do not translate into economic justice. Democracy cannot be sustained on the vote alone when wealth determines whose voice is truly heard. To speak of equality without addressing ownership, wages, and redistribution is to speak in riddles that hide more than they reveal.

Capitalism is in crisis because its contradictions can no longer be contained. Finance fuels fire instead of progress. Equality is preached but not practiced. Ecological and social foundations are sacrificed for profit. Yet within this crisis lies the possibility of transformation. Just as the moonshot once galvanized a generation to reach beyond the limits of imagination, so too can today’s missions—if pursued with courage and clarity—rebuild capitalism on more just and sustainable grounds.

The choice is stark: either allow capitalism to burn itself out in its own fires, or reorient it toward missions that serve humanity as a whole.