Socialist countries have greedy thieves, too

Jonah Goldberg's defense of capitalism is a much needed read.

Much (actually all) of the blame for our current economic woes are laid at the feet of "capitalism" - never mind that we haven't had anything close to a completely free market in over a century.

Capitalism's detractors also neglect to notice that Europe is in the midst of economic troubles of their own - and those that are seeing improvement are doing so by embracing (however begrudgingly) capitalism.

As Goldberg points out, greed, theft, dishonesty are all human failings - not of any particular economic system.

If a company habitually cheats its customers and/or shareholders, customers & shareholders will leave in droves for their competition. When a government (which is just as human as any corporation) cheats its citizens, there is nowhere to turn from its oppression.