Great essay, Ben. Many mainstream economists say Capitalism is a fact of nature (except it does not evolve like nature) so for them it has no stages. Economists from the beyond the pale, like myself, note that it has already devolved into a Neofeudal system. Note: https://medium.com/@daneke/adapting-a-maladaptive-society-institutional-ecology-vs-economics-922dd5764d09

When Reagan took office the US was the largest creditor nation, when he left the greatest debtor. And Reaganomics actually worse under Clinton (except for a brief moment when he nearly paid off the deficit) and Obama (no derivatives traded left behind). Now we don't have capitalism at all, just ALL WANK ALL THE TIME! Note: https://medium.com/@daneke/when-the-wank-became-swank-money-banking-and-the-evolution-of-the-all-debt-economy-22e334f8ee3e