Assumes "capitalism" is a state rather than a direction. Capitalism, left to its own devices, becomes feudalism. Piketty said that, Marx said that. Marx, unlike the rest of the world, argues that it must become feudalism; most everyone else argues somewhere between "lots of capitalism" and "some capitalism."

I would argue that "crony capitalism" is "lots of capitalism": it's that "capitalism" where "the market" has consolidated wealth into hereditary oligarchs with the ability to warp and bend civic structures to maximize their impunity and ability to accumulate wealth. Ritholtz lists eight examples of things that do not benefit you in the slightest unless you are wikipedia-page wealthy. More than that, he lists eight examples that aren't "stupid rich people tricks" they're cases where public money is being used to enrich private individuals. "Capitalism" by definition should make a level playing field between all capitalists; when the State favors the extraordinarily rich over the ostentatiously rich, the ostentatiously rich get mad and bitch about crony capitalism.