Well, if it was good enough for Reagan it should be good enough for most people.

To further play with the idea a bit. . .

The thing is that a corporation doesn't exist in nature. It only comes into existence with a government charter. Governments could choose to only offer charters to companies that made employees shareholders, diluting shares as new employees come on. This is even compatible with the minarchies that libertarians dream about. If some rich people wanted to make business entities structured so they would reap all the profits -- fine, but they won't be able to have any liability protection that comes with a corporate charter. They would be personally liable for what happens.

But I think there still would be a route to be a capitalist, however. It costs money to purchase the equipment, land, train people, etc. The companies in question would need to borrow money, if nothing else to start out. I don't see why the people who make good loans shouldn't be able to get rich doing so. Capital allocation is a real skill and it has a real value in society. (It's value is not unlimited, however, and too-big-to-fail institutions should have been broken up by now).

I'd be worried about securing retirement in this fantasy scenario, however. You don't want everyone just owning shares in the one company where they worked when it comes retirement time. Some will get rich, some will watch their former company fail. Maybe the bond market mentioned above could roll out diversified products. Or maybe there should be the ability to sale you shares when you retire, and those shares form the index funds.

Don't know. This idea will never happen. It was just fun to kill 10 minutes thinking about it.

Edit to add some words I omitted.