Most wealth in the West is not made - but is inherited (Piketty). Ironically, new fortunes are generated in quasi-capitalistic places like China, Russia, and Vietnam or India. Economy not zero-sum game (growth pie all around, for consumers and producers), but capitalism is.
Marx was right about this (and only this). Like Communism, Fascism, or Socialism, Capitalism is a method to allocate resources, means of production, and surplus. Capitalism uses the price signal in a free market (as opposed to central planning).
Proof that is zero-sum: taking from the rich to give to the poor (taxation as progressive distributive justice) and taking from the poor to give back to the rich (regressive inflation, taxation, and asset bubbles). But why, in an environment of growth is the game zero sum? Because of scarcity. The rich cannot reinvest all their income and so it is taken out of circulation to the poor (though it is still available to the businesses of the rich via the banking system). Another reason: depletion of natural resources. These shortages are camouflaged by fiat money, debt, and the symbolic economy. But these are Ponzi schemes and they crumble periodically in cycles of boom and bust.
