RE: It was never about capitalism vs communism - it was always about centralized vs decentralized
it was always astonishing to me that if you examine any singular modern capitalist corporation on it's own, and comparing it with any so called 'communist' (more precisely: state capitalist, as communism was never really implemented) state, the similarities are striking. both systems are extreme authoritarian, centralized, hierarchical surveillance states; since both systems are hierarchical, both is inherently corrupt and degenerative by design. the only real difference between a capitalist and communist society that in a capitalist society you can freely choose which authoritarian dictatorship (aka corporation) you want to join, while in a so called communist state (again, more precisely: state capitalist) there is only one corporation to work for: the state.
You would love to read The Collapse Gap by Orlov. It compares the current state of the US to the now-collapsed Soviet Union.