They are statists. They are socialists. But none have embraced capitalism. And they will fail until they become capitalists.

Nations fashion their government after their culture. Japan has a strange meld of government-controlled feudalistic business empires. Korean business are a government/private partnership. Indonesia is run by the semi-despotic Riady family. South American nations are evolving out of tin-pot dictators into democracies, still facing rampant corruption from drug cartels. European economies are almost all socialist.

The problem with these state-run economies is not that they don't work. It’s that they barely work. Either by dictatorial or egalitarian motivations, these nations find themselves unable to react to markets, unable to create individual wealth, and unable to move past their government-imposed constraints. When something goes wrong, they crumble, and fall further behind capitalistic America.

If the rest of the world is doing it wrong, let’s look at one country that did it right; the United States.

The founding fathers could shed the mistakes of previous nations. Our constitution grants individual freedom with limited government. Every citizen is bound by the same laws. Theoretically, the government has less influence over the individual. This allows each citizen to forge their own individual kingdom.

Later, when waves of immigrants came ashore, they joined a society untrapped by the cultural limits of their native lands. The result? Free market capitalism and the worlds greatest economy.

Then…how do we fix the problem?

As the United States cruises ahead in creating wealth, socialist systems do just the opposite. As socialist wealth is created, it is taken away and given to unproductive people. Hardly inspiring. Socialism creates false economies and artificial markets. Productivity is unrewarded. When socialist economies compete with American capitalism, they fail.

Thus, you have Japan 1998. And Korea. And Indonesia. And the rest of the world.

But there is no shortage of bad ideas to fix this crisis. The International Monetary Fund is the latest great hope, as if shoving fat wads of money into some national treasury and waving a magic wand will fix everything. Unfortunately, the IMF has the King Midas touch in reverse. Everything it touches falls into the toilet. Why? Because the IMF follows guidelines established by a select group of left-wing socialist eggheads from Harvard University, where you can still witness a serious Marxist lecture on campus.

The IMF won’t disclose what rules go along with these loans, but they sure don’t encourage capitalism. Successful nations, primarily the United States, end up taking money from productive, hard-working citizens, and giving it to the IMF, who rewards failing socialistic/statist economies with multi billion-dollar gifts. We are teaching failure. IMF assistance is like giving gas to a car careening over a cliff. But speed doesn’t kill. It’s the direction that matters.

So…how do we get entire nations to abandon foolish, failing philosophies when they are tied to their culture? Good luck. Things must get awful before they can get better. And they will.

When will the worldwide economic crisis end?
It will end when two things happen:
1-the world embraces capitalism,
2-the world accepts individual freedom and the rule of law.

Freedom is the essence of capitalism. And without capitalism, you cannot have strong, self-sustained economic growth. Period. And you can tell anyone who disagrees that they are wrong.

There are those who gallantly try, though.

Tony Blair and other European nations are excited about "Third Way" economics, a supposed compromise between old European socialism and American capitalism. The good news is this quietly signals the surrender of socialism. The bad news is that European leaders think when a car is heading towards the cliff, slowing down is a good compromise. It just prolongs the inevitable. Turning the car around is a smarter idea. Consider Russia, who only accepted partial free markets. Now they have a partial economy.

The United States is the most successful economic and social experiment in history. You would think most nations would pay attention. But politicians across the world take the easy way out, promising voters a few more tax dollars will solve all their problems. Even in America, politicians fight to preserve failing programs that take billions from our wallets. It takes a real leader like Reagan or Thatcher to convince people to stop mooching, have faith in themselves, and get to work. It’s a lesson American liberals have been trying to unteach for decades.

The secret to economic success is not just capitalism. It’s the entire social system. A nation built on a socialist safety net and controlled markets will always have 10% unemployment. A nation built upon privileged classes and bribery will never have incentive to succeed. And a nation built on freedom will become capitalist. Capitalism isn’t the perfect answer, but as Winston Churchill said, "Capitalism is the worst economy ever created…except for all the others..."

Capitalism. It’s a beautiful thing.
And everything else really sucks.