Is Capitalism Dead?

As America plunges deeper into a building economic crisis, many Americans expect the federal government to do something to help ease the pain and prevent further problems. This spurred an unprecedented economic bailout sending billions upon billions of tax dollars into the private sector. However, before the money could even be spent, the cries from other industries rang out. Nobody wanted to be left off of the gravy train.

The big three automobile producers have said that they require assistance to stay in business. The mainstream media highlights the wealth of the top executives and contrasts this with problems that uneducated and untrained workers are having. Congress is outraged, and pledges that things will have to change before tax dollars will be given to the companies. Immediately the trend was to force the companies to change leadership if they wanted to receive federal money. However, soon that wasn't enough.

In the most recent negotiations, Congress has decided that they will require at least 20% of the stock be given to them. Thus, nationalization on a scale unheard of since the Korean War is at hand. In times gone by, the government would have labeled any attempt at governmental control of the means of production as communism. Any notion would have been dismissed out of hand, and the person suggesting such a move would have been ostracized by the Congressional peers. However, the Congress, led by Pelosi and Reid are proud of their idea and will tell anyone that will listen that this is the only plan that makes any sense. But, does it really make any sense at all?