One of the things I object to most about the capitalist system is its lack of generosity - materially, spiritually and every other way. Its premise seems to be that people engage each other for reasons of utility and self interest and beyond that there is nothing, no morality that distinguishes the human being from all the other competing forces in nature.

I doubt if this was what Adam Smith was advocating. But it seems to be the way he has been interpreted and it is certainly the way things are rapidly going. This is to such an extent that any tendency to the old notions of civic duty, altruism, commitment to higher causes etc. is being banished from the narrative. We are entering an era where the soul-less man triumphs, the man who sees things only in terms of his immediate benefit. He has no vision or imagination beyond the satisfying of appetites.