I don't think we're supposed to agree with DeMorel. He's been shown as shortsighted and greedy. But as far as I can tell, he just stated a couple of axioms. They might not be valid, sure.
We have been shown that capitalism is alive and well in the form of EU (I forget what the acronym stands for) who own Florence, so I'm not surprised someone is still using it. I don't think they're exactly in a post-scarcity society either - metals and raw materials may be abundant, but plants are still rare, and even potable water needs to be transported large distances. Not sure how much of that is done by EU vs. smaller contractors.