> Concentrating wealth in the hands of a few individuals inherently creates systemic inequalities and power imbalances
While the word "systematic" is a bit nebulous here, and not too important, overall I'd say yes, this is true, it creates power imbalance, and that is a GOOD thing.
There should not be equal power, there should be power imbalance. People who have demonstrated they have produced the most utility for society should have more power than those who dont. This ensures those with a demonstrated track record of providing utility for society continue to maximize societies utility.
Now the important part, of course, is having the proper checks on those powers. A president has more power than a citizen, this is fine because we have checks on that presidents power, checks that (ideally) ensure that if that power is abused they loose that power.
> investments by the wealthy do not address the root causes of poverty
Agreed. I am not claiming that investments by the wealthy alone address the root cause of poverty. While having wealthy people in a society is a good thing I am in no way proposing it solves all of life's ills. I am also in no way claiming we should be without social programs. All countries in europe are capitalistic for example, most of which also include social welfare as part of their capitalist governance, and that is an important aspect of a healthy capitalist government, but must be done carefully to do right as well.
> exploitation perpetuated by the #capitalist system.
Capitalism doesnt exploit people. People exploit people. And if markets allow exploitation then they arent free markets, and therefore are not capitalist in nature.
freemo