Short-Sightness of Capitalism

I have been making wild accusations that Capitalism is short-sighted. See the comment thread here. I think a truer picture would be that the general population is encouraged to be short-sighted (in the main) - to think of immediate gratification with a passing concern for the future. While the ruling class are struggling to maintain the viability of capitalism in the longer term, they are coming up against the finiteness of resources and the short-sightness of the general population. If the general population were not short-sighted, they would begin to think for themselves and may come to the conclusion they do not need a ruling class.