>>22Doesn't have a lot to do with people cheating each other as a matter of course
Ah, but it does. The manipulator cheats the worker out of the product of his labour, purely by virtue of having the money/power to do it. Whether or not this involves violence or protection is irrelevant, since any corporate force that amasses enough wealth to reach this level of power will be supported by a government concerned with wealth foremost. It's not a closed system; this protected status is open to any of the immoral elite who manage to make enough cash to assert their status, and these people will always be present in society at some level.
You poo-poo spiritual/moral satisfaction and question what value it has compared to a dollar
You misunderstand me here. It is not that I personally hold these things in low regard -- I very highly prize beauty of spirit and character, and think that our economic system should both reflect and reward these traits. However, I don't believe the majority cares much about these abstract virtues, especially taking into consideration the relative death of religion and spirituality in the West. You overestimate the average citizen: most people prefer their material pleasures and vices to any sort of spiritual gain, and this comes about from a lack of guidance, whether by religion, spirit, or state. A system that doesn't accommodate the unthinking folk fails in all but theory. Human nature must be accounted for in all its ugliness as well as its beauty, and it is the ignorance of this fact that is childish.