Don't forget that capitalism (with companies), and life itself does things that way. It's not necessarily elegant (although some might say it's actually elegant), but it works.
Off on a tangent here, but I also see it in way that David Graeber describes: "the rise of the bullshit job", which in many ways makes me think about the fact that a lot of it is not far from privatized basic income.
A lot of us are being paid handsomely, but are we _really_ adding value to society by any other means that just being consumer machines?
"It works", yeah, you're right, it does what it's meant to. Unstated, behind my angst, is the question of whether what its meant to do is actually worthwhile.
