Alternative to capitalism?

Is there a true alternative to capitalism?  Recent protests such as those at St. Paul's cathedral and others in the United States have all suggested that capitalism is failing, but no one appeared to have been offering an alternative.  I would like to change that because it is actually possible.

So how would you go about designing a deferent way of running things?  As with any big design you have to start with a central principle, and then run with this to see if it can work.  My central principle is that it is the changing of prices that causes the problems.  This of course is the 'supply and demand' central lynch pin of capitalism.  It is this which allows the competition that capitalism creates to mimic natures struggle for survival.  In the past this this lead to people such as Herbert Spencer and others in the business world coining the phrase 'survival of the fittest'.  However, in nature when an organism runs out of resources it dies.  Big business and banks are protected and have the means to adapt far to quickly to be subject to the same set of rules.

This is not a rant about banks.  This is very much a case of not blaming the players, but blaming the game.  So if 'supply and demand' is the problem, then the alternative would have to involve fixing the worth of something.  At this stage it would be very easy to think that this is simply communism and that communism failed.  However, communism failed because it doesn't allow for competition (I know this is a massive simplification but bear with me).  Human nature needs the drive that competition brings whist preventing the exploitation of those who are weakest.  So supply that competition.  A region of 2 million or 5 million people has more than enough resources to make everything it needs.  Just have 3 or 5 companies within that region making the same thing and give rewards to the best and set the prices of each accordingly.  The idea of this is to base the value of things not so much on the demand (or for how much we can get away with charging) but on the amount of hours required to make it, or the expertise required.  This may mean that in order to supply work for the entire community that certain jobs that are automated now are reverted back to manual production.  The world needs plates for example, but it doesn't necessarily need plates that are produced by machines or sweat shops.

There is nothing to say that more money can not be printed, or that people have to work every hour.  All it needs is a system that keeps the bottom rung high and has enough checks in place to prevent people taking advantage.

So what do you think?