http://andrax.weebly.com/blog/nature-is-a-capitalist
Competition between individual animals, herds and other species, together with weather changes and all kind of disasters represent the checks and balances on expansion.
Among modern humans, books have been written to explain, love or hate capitalism. Alternatives have been proposed and some tried.
Basic human behaviour follows capitalism first, the checks and balances coming from our peers. We all feel that wealth is just one of the values we strive for.
Capitalism is evil in the opinion of many because they see excessive exploitation of the planet or of poor workers. It violates many other values.
The essence of society is about mitigating what is felt as excesses. Regulation of markets is everywhere. Society makes its political agendas.
In our rich west, we want to assure that no one dies of hunger, so we regulate, tax and redistribute. Some individuals try to escape taxes or fraud on welfare benefits, but in the end, we agree that we want to redistribute because we value humanity, health etc as resources that compete with pure money.
The redistribution and market regulation is never perfect and shifts over decades as we evolve our thinking. This imperfection is not proof of failure but a manifestation of social evolution. And it will never be perfect. Balancing the values that we hold as a society is a never ending process of discussion. Discussions are remote from the common people, their complexity being beyond their reach. They are done by lobbyist and politicians, experts whose expertise and integrity we question more often than not. They are often strongly led by some ideology or religion.
But do we have an alternative? Who else could do it?