War. Wartime has always been a fantastic generator of innovation. It unfortunately destroys mass amounts of capital and kills and wounds many people in the process.
> wealth, and prosperity
Charity and taxpayer-funded government investment. The Marhshall Plan dramatically improved the prosperity and efficiency of much of Europe and was paid for by US taxes. The Green Revolution was funded by the US, UN, and Rockefeller Foundation.
Capitalism is a valuable tool, but too many accolades are laid at its feet these days.
Capitalism is not a singular thing, economic policy of the 30s, 60s and 2020s is very different. There are various schools of though: Shumpeterian, kensyan, neoliberal, austeian, etc. Lately neoliberal system has been dominant, and delivered remarcably poor results for most of us.
We should be discussing the economic system we currently have and various ways it is / was / can be structured. Even the justice system, the cornerstone of civilised society, has been corrupted.
For example why is it that we have publicly funded police but not publicly funded lawyers that can actually hold firms to account for contract violations? Why do companies that pay no taxes enjoy priority when it comes to public prosecution over regular Joe. Why is it, that if I owe the state a few grand, I will be hauled before a court within a day, but if BigCorpX owes the state a few billion they get to negotiate a special tax deal with massive 'discounts'? The list is truly endless.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the cynicism here. There is no perfect system, but I just don't know of one that has empirically produced better results. Certainly not socialism or communism.