Is capitalism evil?

I've been wondering if capitalism is evil. Michael Moore's movie CAPITALISM A LOVE STORY argues that it is and even quotes a priest and a bishop saying so. Karl Marx argued that capitalism at least is better than slavery or feudalism. He was for it or against it depending on the situation. For instance, he was for the North against the South during the American Civil War, because he viewed it as capitalism versus slavery, while at the same time he was encouraging the communist movement in opposition to capitalism.

It seems to me that capitalism in its essential nature -- like the human body, like money, like a knife, like a rock, like a system of government -- is neutral, neither good nor evil, and that the general spiritual law applies, "It's not what you've got; it's what you do with it."

Every modern society is some mixture of capitalist private ownership market economy, socialism public ownership planned economy, and gift economy. All three have coexisted in the USA from colonial times, with capitalism being dominant. (About gift economy, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy and http://www.gift-economy.com/) Today we have public, socialist roadways, waterways, utilities, schools, parks, libraries, mail service, and so on. Each of those is a mix of the three economies. A public school, for instance, is socialist, that is, is publicly owned, funded, and managed, but capitalist enterprises (workers hired and managed by investor owned companies) provide the buildings and supplies, and often a small amount of the work of operating a school is done as a gift by volunteers. What is public and what private varies with time and place. When I was young community owned electric power plants were common. In many countries mineral resources are publicly owned and managed. The US is an exception in the world in its lack of a publicly funded and managed health insurance system.

I personally have known capitalists who are contenders for sainthood. They are good to their employees, investors, managers, customers, the community, and the earth, each to the degree possible and reasonable, always putting a fair wage, respect for employees as humans, decent working conditions, avoiding pollution, and so on ahead of maximizing profits. History and the news media are full of examples of evil capitalists who foment war, ruin soil, air, and water with pollutants, mistreat and underpay workers, sell harmful goods to customers, and so on, in the name of maximizing profits. I think probably most capitalists are between those extremes, just doing their best to make enough money providing goods or services to make a living and stay in business. A change in circumstances will test such a capitalist's priorities.

Jesus taught, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." If a capitalist's life goal, heart's desire, treasure above all else is maximizing profits, it seems to me that person is spiritually dead and prone to do evil deeds -- to commit usury, to foment war, to sell unsafe products and produce, to get away with the lowest possible wages and worst possible working conditions, to pollute, and so on.

To protect against such capitalist evil doers, society needs taboos, laws, and regulations. But imperfect humans make those, so they can be helpful or harmful, depending. Finding a balance between regulating capitalism to prevent its misuse and avoiding the misuse of regulation is a task of the democratic process.