The current financial crisis, the declining trade and stock markets, the panicked consumers and the millions that lost their jobs made it clear: Capitalism has its flaws. But with all its shortcomings, capitalism proved itself to be one of the greatest engines for global prosperity. Millions of people who had been close to starvation are now using cell phones and driving cars. Countries like Singapore, Taiwan, or Japan, though poor in natural resources, managed to achieve flourishing economies as the free market worked its magic.

Since the Second World War living standards improved dramatically in the United States. The dynamic free-market made place for innovation, freedom, wealth creation, and hard work has always been rewarded. Until the recession began, America was unmatched in its economic growth and its capitalism seemed unshakable.

So, when Barack Obama agreed last autumn that raising taxes during the recession wouldn’t be a good idea, he seemed to be a moderate and to have a profound understanding of the markets. It didn’t seem possible that capitalism could be in danger in the United States.

But now, when among other measures, the Obama administration has announced that small business owners will pay higher taxes, we have serious reasons to worry. If the Obama administration has its way and the governmental control over the economy will increase, the U.S. will be heading for the same government-heavy economy characteristic for European socialism.

The Democrats claim that socialism is an imaginary threat to the U.S., but we can easily see how Obama’s programs, such as the health care reform, slowly drag America into a socialistic nightmare. If the Democrats succeed in their attempt to impose a new welfare state, we will not come out the same great country. America too, like Great Britain or France, will be bearing the “once-great” prefix.

I know I am not the only one who is confused by the lack of willingness to allow the so-called ‘too big to fall’ companies go. While ideally saving these huge corporation would have a positive effect on the economy, the recent over spending and misuse of funds that were given to such global powerhouses like AIG have proven the concept overly optimistic at best, dangerous at worst.

According to the principles behind a free market, something that American politicians claim to cherish, allowing a company to fall is all a part of the process. Why would allowing a corporation that had lost billions upon billion of dollars to go bankrupt throw us into another Great Depression? They are obviously no longer able to pull their weight. They are dead wood, a broken clock, and so our solution is to waste tax payer dollars sending the executives on retreats?

It is time we looked back at the original intentions behind out economic system, and realize that permitting failure is not admitting defeat. Letting these corporate giants fall will only allow new companies to take their place. We must stop allowing the stigma of failures dictate our actions, and do what is best for our people, our country, and our economy, before it is too late to turn back.

In a recent speech at Columbia University, Czech President and former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus has spoken out against the stimulus package and bailout funds seen recently in the United States. As an avid supporter of the free market, and a heavy influence in a post-Communism Czech Republic, he has expressed alarm at the level of government involvement in business.

According to Klaus, he has always cherished the attitude in the U.S that encourages freedom within the market place, and a separation from Socialist politics that heavily crowd the Liberal wing. He has also warned against using a spending policy to try and boost economic growth, a measure that his own country has been fighting against in recent months as the economic crisis has extended globally.

“I hope it will include not endangering the basic institutions of the market economy,” he said of the stimulus package, hinting at his cynicism for the ideology behind the rescue plan.

While Klaus’ visit was originally based on his skepticism of global warming, and the belief that it was man-made, his talks quickly took a turn towards the economy, and his fear that the U.S will allow government intervention to destroy the principles of freedom that American has always upheld in the past.

Some people say that Obama’s agenda is going to regulate the American laissez faire capitalism and bring about a more stable one. Judging by the effects of the worldwide economic crisis, a crisis that brought global joblessness, it seems that a more social capitalism is needed. From this point of view, a new social capitalism should replace the present deregulated one that brought this crisis upon us.

This kind of people thinks that calling Obama a socialist is outraging. They say that socialism is present only if the government owns pretty much everything and makes all decisions. Furthermore, they think that the stimulus package, the massive federal spending and the welfare are to be considered free-market reforms instead of steps towards socialism.

As history records, some 70 years ago America was handling a financial crisis in the same manner. Back then, the Roosevelt administration was also adopting socialist measures. Some of those measures seemed designed by German or Italian fascists and were declared unconstitutional. However, part of D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” still bears upon us as the welfare-state is hemmed in by economic crisis.

More governmental control or federal spending is not destined to help us. Printing money and redistributing wealth in a Marxist “From each according to ability, to each according to need” manner is not what America needs. We should consider the long term consequences of our decisions and realize that a socialist agenda like the one Roosevelt came up 70 years ago is going to doom our children and grandchildren.

This is why libertarians are right to say STOP to a socialist revolution that brings a welfare state of debt, inflation, and a financial crisis. The libertarians are right to oppose massive taxation, government interventions and regulations. This is why all Americans should join them in their fight for economic liberty and for the principles on which the US stand.

The current state of our economy is well beyond bad. It’s slowly drifting down a spiral of degradation, and while measures are being taken to revive it, that’ll take time. But it brings about an important question - what exactly is the great benefit of the free market?

Actually, the exact meaning of the term “free market” is largely unknown to the people today. It sounds like something to be afraid of - unrestricted freedom is always bad, right? In reality, it refers to the market being free of unnecessary government regulation.

The people who actually invented the name of the free market were those who were affected by the regulations imposed on them - the reason for that being that those regulations prevented them from making their own decisions and spending their own money as they saw fit.

In the US, the elite exploited the masses’ thinking, luring them into voting for more and more control and regulations. The way to do this turned out to be by making people believe those rules would directly affect them in positive ways. Using this method, the two political parties have been successfully subjecting the market and the people to more more regulations during the past half a century.

So, is a completely free market beneficial to the end user? Maybe we should try it one of these days and we’ll find out.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, oil and gas businessman T. Boone Pickens said that it would be a wise decision for the US to draw itself away from the current major oil trading as much as possible, because it’s presently not being a fair market to exchange goods in. With the country being in a very power-dependent situation, it’s a tricky ground to maneuver, especially considering the lasting effects it can have.

And with the United States’s huge consumption of oil - roughly a quarter of the world’s production - it’s a decision that’s bound to have a large impact on the country’s state. Pickens, who was a huge supporter of the wind power technology, making heavy use of it in his planning, recently expressed severe negativism towards this idea, to the point where he completely regarded it as unfeasible and unprofitable in any way.

Just a few months ago, Pickens’s long-term plans were to fully utilize wind power, in order to preserve as much natural gas as possible, to be used by automobiles. It was a deeply developed plan, with strong ideas on how to improve it as it progresses over time. But according to Pickens, things have changed over the last few years, and it’s just not an efficient option anymore. And if it means that there’s a need for some cuts in the natural gas distribution, Pickens is prepared to face the consequences of such actions - all in the name of preserving the country’s self-reliability.

This is largely the result of two factors, as stated by Pickens - the main one being the financial side of the project. Mr Pickens stated that when he started the whole wind power planning, prices of that power were just slightly lower than those of natural gas. And today, when gas prices have more than halved, it’s just not economically feasible to make profit out of that method. Additionally, requirements for power were smaller back in the beginning of the project, compared to today’s needs - a factor which also plays a major role in this outcome.

Pickens was very harsh in his opinion of people who reject change. He believes that with the current state of affairs, change is inevitable, and it’s largely in the hands of the population to achieve. Because today, the US is lacking a strong, backed up energy plan to get it through its crisis. Pickens was very eager to make use of the country’s great stocks of natural gas, if that’s what it would take to resolve the situation.

His actions are based on his opinion that it would be much more beneficial, in the long run, to use this approach, instead of relying on trading resources with the Middle East. According to Pickens, the United States are well prepared to meet the crisis with a plentiful supply of gas, enough to make certain that trading with Mideastern countries will remain unnecessary.

The world is on the brink of yet another economic slowdown. The economic downturn has already started and economists all over the world are already wondering where this all will end. One thing that slowdown has brought back are the memories of past when the renowned communist, Karl Marx, had said that every time the ghost of the Capitalism bites the dust and commercial crises arise, the need of Communism will be felt all the more certain.

The economic crises are like epidemics that wipe out the existing as well as the upcoming productive intensities. There has been a significant downfall in the industrial production rate of many economic superpowers. For instance, Japan has already registered a 30% negative growth in the industrial output by the end of January 2009. It is something that was unprecedented for the post World War II Japanese economy.

Even the mighty US government has had to authorize bailout plans for financial powerhouses. Major banks, automobile manufacturers and various other industries have asked for federal help to survive. The US economy shrunk by 6% in the last quarter of the bygone financial year. Similarly, Taiwan too has registered a 4% slide in its economy with major fall in its exports.

With free-falling industrial output and declining prices, the scenario cannot get worse; it indicates approaching Depression. To fix the arising problem governments around the world have started allocating funds for national agendas. With French president Nicolas Sarkozy urging the French automobile companies not to outsource the jobs created there, it is a clear indication that now the era of free cross border trade is on the decline.

Another change that is brewing up is that countries and economies now will start manipulating the exchange rates both at micro and macro levels to gain advantage over foreign competition. Free market is a term that will be used only with suspicion lesser from now on, as the governmental protectionists’ interference and meddling increases to exorbitant levels. With increased red tape influence, will the spirit of entrepreneurs who have helped raise the living standards world over in the last few decades be crushed?

A recently released government report indicates that over the past few months, consumer incomes have been, against all odds, rising steadily after a tough period of downfalls. Despite that, however, individuals should beware and not take this as granted, as it will most probably not last, according to experts.

They say that the main reason for the rise of incomes were some of the government’s recent actions. In the last year, prices have been fluctuating in rather unpredictable levels, resulting in, ultimately, citizens receiving larger payments, not adapted to current prices. Pay rates were simply overtaking the current price status. In addition to that, most federal employees got promotions, or salary increases, as a result of circumstances related to the loss of financial balance.

The job market in the private sector, however, was in a different situations. Salaries were actually decreasing in the last year, and that hasn’t changed for a few months. Overall, the situation seems to be deceptive in its nature - if one lets himself be fooled by the current status of his finances, he may get the wrong impression that he has the opportunity to progress.

In reality, however, experts state that there are times of steep decline ahead of us, limiting options for jobs, income, and overall consumption.

“The Forbes list has become the wanted list,” said Zhao Xiao, a researcher at a state think tank when interviewed by a Chinese newspaper.

Billionaires in China have been ending up in police custodies or are held in detention or are in serious debt while a lot of Chinese citizens have lost their source of income during the recession.

Huang Guangyu who was once China’s richest man, has been detained for supposed corruption and the Chinese population are everything but sympathetic. Huang, who was born as a peasant, was able to build a flourishing electrical appliance chain and has over 800 stores with £2 billion worth of shares. He was the one who pulled overseas financiers to invest not only millions but billions of dollars in China. But as of the moment he sits in the grey zone where there are no constitutional rights, lawyers or even court hearings, with his wife and chief financial officer.

Another tycoon down in the slumps is Zhang Yin, Huang’s counterpart as she used to be the richest woman in China. Her demise caused a lot of Chinese people to rejoice since she tried to use her status to cut taxes for rich people and to prevent the passing of a new law that will ultimately terminate sweatshop mistreatment.

Blogger Chen Jinsong complained that these billionaires unseeingly depend on political power and according to Professor Liu Xie, government officials are the ones who exert power while the billionaire businessmen bribe them.

During the time when businessmen and tycoons prospered, the regular Chinese community had to watch them throw away money and show off their power and take it as an insulting slap in the face. Because of this, activists who strongly oppose prejudice and corruption demanded that the Communist’s disciplinary committee look into the matter and try to expose those who abuse their influence power.

The anger of the public of China regarding the widespread fraud and injustice has turned into sheer abhorrence as these “red billionaires” are slowly weeded out and sent to prison.

The idea of a free market in this day and age may seem inviting but with the way the current President runs the government, it seems like a very unreachable dream trapped in a bubble that can pop at any given minute. Why? Because the more the government inflates the currency, the more they can have control over the economy.

As of the moment, the overall collective federal debt has reached an all time high of sixty trillion dollars and counting. During the 1960s and 1970s, yearly debits tend to sum up to over 20 to 30 billion dollars and it rattled the whole nation. Now with the growth of debt, it looks like the government’s penchant for inflating the currency has been proven true.

Back in those days when paper money wasn’t abundant, metal coins such as gold and silver was produced as a means of cash. They opted for something made of metal since you can carry it anywhere, it cannot rupture or sever itself with just one snap of a finger and it’s a sure way to keep its value.

Free market money is the only way to prevent the impending crash of the trade and commerce industry especially since the people would be able to pay for whatever they want to buy using the measures that they want and in this case it would be those valuable metal coins.

Money, although most people would love for this to happen, cannot appear or be created out of thin air; history has already established this to be correct. The market is the one place where money is opulent because trades and barters made transactions or exchange of goods possible.

If the much needed change isn’t done in the near future, an uprising is a foreseeable potential. Hopefully people will realize what the right thing is and move on to act to attain the freedom that would be beneficial to everyone.