Is the U.S. more than Capitalism?

Events in the past ten years suggest that there is but one issue on which Americans agree: it is the economy.  The 2008 recession generated consensus and action.  While the action was not universally supported, the need for action was accepted.

Contrast the obsession with fixing the economy with any other topic in American politics and I would assert that there is no consensus and consequently no action.  Meanwhile we have a racist President who cannot even own up to racist statements he makes in front of witnesses.  He lies continually and has a majority party backing him.   Virtually no one in the Republican party defends the racism or the lying.  Why?  The "Economy" is good, and that is all that matters.

"Economy" is a difficult word. In Wikipedia, a reference statement is: 'The economy is defined as a social domain that emphasizes the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources'.  

Americans use various indicators to justify their opinion about the economy.  Is the unemployment number low?  Are interest rates low?  Is inflation low?  Then there is the stock market.  In general, Americans accept a judgment that the economy is sound or good if these boxes are checked properly.  Now we are even getting into the next tier of numbers.  Are wages up? Are healthcare insurance premiums 'reasonable' (we are conditioned to expect that they will always increase)?  Are taxes low?

Notice the absence of discussion about related topics, including national debt, social spending, infrastructure repair.  Yes, there is some discussion about income inequality.  In San Diego, the homeless problem is at an all time high, and there has been no progress on it, even though it has been highlighted for many years.  Wild fires, water scarcity, affordable housing, immigration, opioid crisis, education, all are subordinate to 'the Economy.'  The underlying ethos is that we cannot address any problems unless 'the Economy' is sound.  But this ethos runs deeper.  It is the belief that when the economy is sound, all problems will be solved.  The 'invisible hand' of capitalism will solve problems through market mechanisms, through supply and demand.

We have likely always been this way, and I am only now acknowledging this reality.  Each culture brings its own beliefs into practice.  Our culture is that the all-mighty dollar will fix all things.  More abstractly, the free market will fix all things.  

A case can be made that there is no general approach for all problems.  Certainly the scale of a problem is related to the scale of the solution that is needed.