It's interesting you mention World Wars in reference to alternative systems. "Merchants of Death", in the case of the US and capitalism, instantly comes to mind.

Otherwise, there are many contemporary examples of concentration of capital. Whether it is distributive isn't the question, but more the trends of distribution.

It's also quite interesting you mention central banks here, considering the substantial evidence of bulge bracket banks acting as an antithesis to your statement about risk (i.e "too big to fail").