The author seems to think this wealth accumulation dynamic is somehow unique to free market capitalism, produced by a capitalist culture that explicitly values

The author seems to think this wealth accumulation dynamic is somehow unique to free market capitalism, produced by a capitalist culture that explicitly values money, economic efficiency, and wealth accumulation. It's not. Every culture and economic system that has ever been put into practice in all of human history has produced the exact same wealth accumulation dynamic. The main difference is that in the systems other than free-market capitalism, significant wealth accumulation is not merely "difficult" for ordinary people, but actually "impossible" if you're not a member of the tiny ruling circle. At least under free market capitalism, as an ordinary person you do have a shot, however unlikely it may be.