* Tipping baseline is very high. Although I'm a capitalist, I consider this practice to have nothing to do with capitalism.*
Tipping IS about capitalism. It provides the incentive for the server to do their job well, providing the best service possible to the customer. Especially in situations where the server can materially affect the quality: you might get a beer glass full of foam, or a mixed drink very thin on the alcohol, or a cabbie who takes the wrong route and gets lost, or a bellhop who drops your bag. Tipping provides direct connection between these and the compensation earned by the server, incenting the servers to deliver well.
There are flaws with the above argument. If there's sufficient supervision by the employer as to quality of service (think flight attendants, or fast food where the manager is always nearby), tipping isn't necessary. And the system doesn't work if people tip anyway on bad service, out of habit or perceived social compulsion. But by and large the tipping culture induces good quality of service.
Perhaps it's better said as: "Tipping WAS about capitalism". The problem is that tipping amounts in the US have become standardized as part of social compulsion. It's increasingly rare, and I think increasingly considered rude, to undertip a server unless they are very unusually bad. And overtipping is likewise looked on as decadent, the kind of thing hip hop moguls do.
Even so, having lived in cultures (Italy, etc.) where tipping is frowned upon, I think it is true that tipping cultures have somewhat better service. But it's also a pretty small difference, and the annoyance of tipping is so incredibly high it is simply not a worthwhile institution. It's basically a mechanism to keep most servers in poverty. Plus we don't tip for food or decor. Why just service?
Tipping IS about capitalism. It provides the incentive for the server to do their job well, providing the best service possible to the customer. Especially in situations where the server can materially affect the quality: you might get a beer glass full of foam, or a mixed drink very thin on the alcohol, or a cabbie who takes the wrong route and gets lost, or a bellhop who drops your bag. Tipping provides direct connection between these and the compensation earned by the server, incenting the servers to deliver well.
There are flaws with the above argument. If there's sufficient supervision by the employer as to quality of service (think flight attendants, or fast food where the manager is always nearby), tipping isn't necessary. And the system doesn't work if people tip anyway on bad service, out of habit or perceived social compulsion. But by and large the tipping culture induces good quality of service.