“The finan­cial cri­sis is not the cri­sis of cap­i­tal­ism.  It is the cri­sis of a sys­tem that has dis­tanced itself from the most fun­da­men­tal val­ues of cap­i­tal­ism, which betrayed the spirit of cap­i­tal­ism.” – Nico­las Sarkozy

Two excel­lent arti­cles on the future of capitalism:

A Cap­i­tal­ist Man­i­festo, Judy Shel­ton for The Wall Street Journal

What are the basic prin­ci­ples that we can forge together toward this “true cap­i­tal­ism” […], this mar­ket econ­omy that uti­lizes the power of gen­uine com­pe­ti­tion to serve the needs of indi­vid­ual pro­duc­ers and con­sumers? It is a cap­i­tal­ism that accords pri­macy to the entre­pre­neur — that com­pen­sates hard work, inno­v­a­tive solu­tions, stal­wart com­mit­ment and per­sonal dis­ci­pline. The val­ues that define the char­ac­ter of indi­vid­u­als should find expres­sion in the poli­cies that under­pin the legit­i­macy of gov­ern­ments. Hon­est cap­i­tal­ism requires the following…

Tra­di­tional Cap­i­tal­ist Val­ues, Eliezer Yud­kowsky for Over­com­ing Bias

Mak­ing money is a vir­tu­ous endeavor, despite all the lies that have been told about it, and should prop­erly be found in the com­pany of other virtues.  Those who set out to make money should not think of them­selves as fallen, but should rather con­duct them­selves with honor, pride, and self-respect, as part of the grand pageantry of human civ­i­liza­tion ris­ing up from the dirt, and con­tin­u­ing for­ward into the future.