choice and innovation

I just realized that arguments in favor of capitalism have shifted from often promoting "choice" to promoting "innovation" instead.

Good move. It's a little too easy to find evidence to prove that the net effect of production and marketing is actually anti-choice. Even with the Internet's increased room for diverse and niche markets, the slim profit margins of such things mean that the balance of power is still vastly in favor of a small number of big companies.

By focusing instead upon the 'stimulating' effect of competition on innovation, it no longer matters if that innovation only comes from a small handful of sources, or requires big-budget marketing to create a demand in an ambivalent population, or amounts to little more than new ways to create disposable, wasteful, meaningless money sinks.