AC Compressor Getting Old. Hard Start Capacitor?

My wife tried to start our rear AC while the generator was running. She told me that it wouldn't work. I checked and found that the breaker on the generator was tripped. Later I ran the generator again and put a clamp meter on the air conditioner while I turned it on. As it started the generator almost died and I saw 22 amps flash briefly on the meter. After starting the air conditioner worked fine.

Is this because of a dying compressor?
Would a hard-start capacitor help? Would 2 of them help even more?
Is it ever economical to replace the compressor?

Thanks for your help.