Short of a windfall or fanciful ideas of starting my own business (and then having to work even harder), I'm still a wage slave who needs to keep doing what the man asks of me so he will give me my monthly stipend

That may be true for the individual, but the man can be kicked to the curb at any time with ease if the workers collectively decide to.

We're still working this hard because we, collectively, want to. Simple as that.

True but pointless. The group can want things none of its constituents want.

True but pointless. The wants of the constituents is outside of the discussion. Explicitly so.

The man just sets policy that maximizes prices and minimizes wages, so that the median person still works full time and lives hand-to-mouth even while the economy has achieved a level of productivity that would have been compatible with Keynes' 15 hour workweeks were the surplus not devoted exclusively to pumping assets.

Next!

You work for the man, no matter where you go. Trace the money.

I don't at least. I have to pay rent, afford food and clothing, fund my personal projects, etc.

In theory we could just come together, start focusing on building a working society which defines what we need and what we want and just build it efficently.

We could just get rid of any inefficency.

Capitalism is driving our current economy, it doesn't has to.

There is no real reason why we couldn't decide tomorrow that every car is electric and depending on some factor you can just request a car.

Planet earth has resources x, the only question is for what we use it and how we distribute it.

But no if i want to be self sufficient (100%) i can't do this.

If i want to exit capitalism and build up a country not defined by it, i can't either.

If i kill bad leaders, i will be thrown in prison.

"The man" dictates the consequences of doing or not doing what is expected, and especially when you do something unwanted.