Why free market capitalism is still the best solution to our problems

Posted by ameet sharma on Nov 9, 2011 in Telegram Past News

Much has been said over the past two years against free market capitalism. It is often blamed for the the economic downturn. Capitalism was widely blamed to be cruel, leading other economic policies have been proposed. The purpose of this editorial is to prove that free market capitalism is still the best solution to our problems, and the problems in our current system are not a work of capitalism but that of a partnership of big government and big corporations, often called “corporatism” or “crony-capitalism”.

President Reagan once said , “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.” The success of free market capitalism is un-paralleled, it has lead to the highest standard of living in the history of mankind. The beauty of this system is that individuals get to do what they think is best for themselves and those around them without the government getting into our business.

If there is no greater power than the “will and moral courage of free men and women”, which was proven by America surviving the Cold War and outlasting the Soviet Union, then we must maintain a system that provides for the us to be able to promote freedom and individualism. The only system that does that is capitalism.

Americans are the greatest people in the world and the sole reason is because we do whatever we want to do. A testament of the success of capitalism is the fact that the world uses the US Dollar as the World Reserve Currency. A controlled economy cannot match us because of the advantages we have: our people get paid fairly, are masters of their own destinies and happier than the people of any controlled state.

What we have experienced recently is not the work of capitalism. Government backed Fennie May and Freddie Mac are not the work of true capitalism. Bailouts are not capitalistic. A MIT professor recently commented that the large corporations, the ones people are mad at, are not the work of free market capitalism but that of the government. Capitalism has never failed, nor will it ever fail what has failed is our execution of capitalism. So really capitalism has not failed us, the Government has failed us.

People often claim that free market capitalism has lead to unequal distribution of wealth. This is not true; laziness has lead to the unequal distribution of wealth. Hard work still has value in capitalism. The fact that 29.6 million small businesses exist in the United States is a testament that handwork pays off.

What system is better than capitalism? What system gives you full freedom to choose what you want in life? What best harness the talents of free people? The answer is none other than capitalism. Though its principals have been under much attack capitalism still remains the only system that allows ordinary people to fulfill their dreams.