The economists' models of capitalism have frequently assumed rational self-interest, which is conflated with selfishness or with the lack of empathy, since empathy would be a form of social deference that would cut down on the magic of the invisible hand. Capitalism works on the principle that two heads are better than one. When people defer to others, putting others' interests ahead of theirs out of love, empathy, or selflessness (moral obligation), there's a loss of independence, which diminishes the bottom-up determination of the value of goods and services.
Thus, as I say in the longer article, the models are effectively based on the dominant player in capitalism, who is the psychopathic businessman, the one who literally lacks the capacity for empathy. Such a participant is the most independent, the one most cut off from others due to antisocial tendencies.
I was speaking hyperbolically about the inequality. But see the article below for six ways the US is like a Third World country, including economic inequality. The OECD says, "Income inequality is high in the US, compared to other OECD countries."
https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/Tackling-high-inequalities.pdf
