US capitalism basically failed, but perhaps the global capitalism succeeded...
I don't think US capitalism has failed, we have become the wealthiest nation in about 200 years...
The production culture and the momentum of innovation in the US companies have been actually the biggest assets of the US that created the wealth. However, I think the capitalism has been failing slowly due to abuse, some of the poorest run companies such as banks should've been allowed to fail before becoming systematic risks to the society. It would've slowed down the growth, but also get rid of the bad debt, instead the govt subsidized them. Now we have constant systematic risk, this must definitely change.
Currently, the national debt after the bail outs and additional debt to "run" the capitalism is already enough to wipe out the equity built up over 200 years, if US is forced to settle only part of its debt today. US has simply an horrendous amount of debt and you cannot extract the value faster from the equities to pay it off, such as in higher taxes, neither by inflating the currency with more debt any faster. So, the existing debt is pretty much now permanent and it is still growing, the govt's goal is now reduced down to only pay its interest to sustain the growing debt and I doubt it is a long term viable solution...
As I said, US capitalism could've provided the long term, sustainable, but slower growth, and the debt could've been better settled against the equity making the society sustainable. The social benefits and govt spending would've then had to be adjusted better on a regular basis and balanced. But instead the profits got capitalized and the losses got socialized over and over, the liability of social entitlements are just choking the govt and in fact, the business liability of social security is also another problem preventing the hiring too as the additional profit margins are just too small, this must probably change...
Now, even though the private property is protected, there is nationally just too much debt and the govt has the right to sell private property to pay off the national debt as Treasuries are basically backed by the full faith of the people of US, if in fact US becomes bankrupt (the day the debt ceiling cannot be fiscally raised due to the interest liability ONLY). Basically even the richest Americans' paper wealth may not have any equity value in this case...
BUT, all hope is not lost, there is one solution and it also comes from the innovation and production culture of American companies. Americans and in fact all human civilization became strong because we learned to invent machines and produce cheaper and consume more. This production and consumerism are basically what built the American economy. It happened because of cheaper energy over and over. So, if we can find a way to produce significantly more energy (equivalent of $1-10 per bbl oil) again, I think the bottlenecks preventing the strong growth in US can be fixed. However, it can be abused to its destruction again with the current crony capitalist mentality, this must still change...
Anyway, the humanity and in fact people working in US companies definitely have more know-how about systematically producing better goods, but as I said, also being held down by the cost of energy. I believe the big oil, big coal and in fact even uranium must be ALL replaced with at least 10 times cheaper energy, or better perhaps 100 times cheaper. So, this reconsidered thorium fission (nuclear) reactor which had its proof of concept built about 50 years ago and yet buried away apparently due to the momentum of uranium reactors and weapon programs, or Rossi's fusion catalyzer, if it really works, will change the humanity and I am sure US companies can still grow faster and better since it has the culture of innovation intact and US is still one of the biggest consumer market of the world.
I am not as much concerned about the US Dollar and the oil trade supporting the US Dollar. I believe all nations, EU or China, must inflate their currencies to overcome many resource challenges. The idea is to grow the equity faster than the debt though, it can only happen with cheaper energy and more efficient use of resources. US still has the technological capability to lead. In US, every rally after the govt interventions ended up with the energy prices going significantly higher and choking any reflation effort, this must also basically change...
If you sit in a social gathering with the doctors, you will know they will vent frustation at various issues like underpaid, health care reform bill, medicare/ medicaid payments etc. An example of a popular rant: Typically birth of a baby costs 13k - 15k. Obstetricians rant that they are paid only 750$ - 1000$ per delivery while the significant work is done by them. Their rant is that the hospital takes majority of the payment and they are not happy that many staff in the Hospital administration are paid higher than them while doing no important work.
Most of the hospitals are non-profit, 99%. Means they somehow declare either they don't make profits or they declare they are running in losses. As a result, they don't pay taxes or simply put, they avoid taxes. 
