The United States in not Captilistic, it is Corportist. The small and middle sized businesses pay for the subsidizations of the Too Big Too Fails and Unionized Manufacturing. If we were a Capitalistic country we would have less big banks, more small banks. Not a Big 3, but the small 30 auto makers. People would have more skill sets, because being a local technical expert in your community would give you greater wealth and social standing. There would be an incentive to achieve, instead of dropping out of school and trying to be an NBA star for your one small chance. Being a Capatilist Republic should be our goal, but instead we are a Corportist Oligarchy. Don’t let the Oligarchs use Crony Capatilism and tell you that we now need Socialism. Socialism is just another scam that keeps the powers that be in power. Look at Al Gore for an example. He can go from a Socialist Environmentalist to a Corportist power player with his own Congressionally-backed firm depending on the audience and setting.
I agree with you.
Skilled trades would be a good future choice for some but just like most other screwed up aspects of our country, it is not run by capitalism but by the government. The corupt government gets to decide who gets licensed, what the test is about, how much money it costs and who gets to bid on jobs. If it were truly capitalism the best skilled tradsman would get the job.