text: Hierarchy causes income inequality, either explicit or implicit. Certain people are ”worth more,” which to Christ is an abomination, although not necessarily to its hierarchs. That capitalism is internally hierarchical is beyond debate. There is no free market in such systetms, wages are set from the top down, with the wage setter getting the biggest share from his workers, his suppliers and his customers.  That is what capitalism is and that is what it does.  Saying anything else makes the speaker a capitalist fan boy, like Brooks.  As for the culture of the gift, look to socialism for it, either democratic or cooperative.