Since the middle ages capitalism has been the driving force behind invention and progress. The best and brightest have been driven in their quest for wealth and prestige to produce a better product or better service, and market it in the best possible way in order to obtain that wealth and prestige. And we can safely say that without capitalism we wouldn't have medical miracles, computers, cell phones, and a host of other things that have become part of our daily lives.

However, in the recent past it seems that some of the best and brightest in this country have let greed drive them to take short cuts. No longer willing to wait until they have that better invention or service, they've decided to practice in questionable and unethical practices to reach their goals at break neck speed.

OUR TOO BIG TO FAIL BANKS

We now have a credit card holders bill of rights. This is indeed wonderful for anyone caught in the grip of their credit card company. The banks will no longer be able to hike up interest rates to a ridiculous percentage point just on their own wim. They will now have to get the bill out in time for you to get your payment there by the due date, without having to race to the post office the minute the bill arrives in the mail. They will also have to credit your account when the bill arrives, instead of holding the payment until it's convenient for them to credit it, so that they can, once again, charge you that enormous late fee. These rights and a host of others will begin in February.

So what are the banks doing in the meantime, with the extra time they claimed they needed to change their computer systems? You've got it! They're hiking up rates and minimum payments as fast as their computers can print out bills!

THE SHORT CUT TO INVESTMENT BANKING

Of course, we can't forget Goldman Sachs when we mention cutting corners in their quest for wealth and therefore multi-million dollar packages for their best and brightest. Goldman Sachs seems to have a wonderfully profitable situation going on in their bank. They have one department that looks into a crystal ball to see what price commodities are going to go to in the near future. Then they have another department that buys and sells commodities. Of course, they assure us that these are two different departments and never the twine shall meet.

However, last summer when commodities were peaking, gas was at a ridiculous $4.00 a gallon, and heating oil was so high that winter that children in New England were forced to wear coats in their own homes while churches took up donations for the families, Goldman Sachs had the capacity to store l00 million barrels of heating oil. We, of course, don't have any way of knowing how many barrels were filled and in storage because, thanks to the Enron loophole, they no longer have to disclose this. And as much as we are reassured that the departments do not get together, I feel certain that when the investment department asks the crystal ball department how high oil is going to go, they reply with "well, how high do you want it to go?" Because when Goldman Sachs says buy, you can bet that what ever commodity they tell you to buy is going to fly up in price, as it did recently with Natural Gas, going from approximately $1.87 to over $5.00, after the public became privy to what the crystal ball revealed.

LET US NOT FORGET OUR BIGGEST AND BEST INSURANCE COMPANIES

And when speaking of unethical behavior speeding the way to riches, we certainly can't forget our biggest insurance companies. Even while they spend millions airing frightening and questionable commercials in order to keep their profits high, in the background they are still refusing to cover a four-month-old baby because of a "pre-existing condition" known as baby fat. They still have people perusing your records if you become seriously ill, in order to find any loophole to drop your coverage, and they are still hiking up rates on people who have discovered they have a serious disease, hoping to get the rates so high they will be forced to drop off the roles.

CAN CAPITALISM BE SAVED?

I believe capitalism can and must be saved. However, first I think we need to save our country. Looking at the big picture, the credit card companies are not just hurting the people who hold those cards, but are also hurting the economy as a whole. The more money they gouge from the person unlucky enough to have gotten one of their cards and naive enough to carry a balance, the less money is moving through our economy. When commodities are driven up by the "crystal ball" that Goldman Sachs seems privy to, gas, heating oil, and natural gas are going to shoot up, and less money is moving through our economy. And, when insurance companies are holding people hostage, effectively saying "big money, or your life", once again, less money is moving through our already very fragile economy.

The credit card companies have been taken care of, or at least will be in February. But why did it take so long? There are laws against the average person extorting money from another person, but that is exactly what the credit card companies were doing for a very long time. You essentially had to pay ANY figure that they said, or they would ruin your credit score, essentially a form of black mail.

We have to get tough on shady, unethical, and greedy behavior if capitalism is to survive. Any banking institute that "predicts" which commodities are going to go up needs to be translucent in how much they are invested in that commodity and when they purchased that investment. If not, they are in the position of being able to invest heavily in one commodity, announce that it is about to go up, and when it does as a result of their announcement, dump it at a hefty profit. One also has to wonder about that l00 million barrel capacity to store heating oil that Goldman Sachs has. If indeed they were all filled when they announced their prediction, was what they had stored alone enough to drive up the price? (I have to note the irony here of New Englands citizens' tax dollars going to help bail out Goldman Sachs in the height of the banking crisis, so that they could go back to "business as usual".) And finally, since insurance companies have not been able to control themselves and their greed, they need some serious competition from a government option.

Sounds tough I know, but only then can capitalism survive. Companies who produce items that are not a necessity have to price them for the market they seek, which is true capitalism. These companies are currently being delt an unfair hand by the shady companies who are selling or influencing necessity items. If the average consumer is being held up by unethical companies, they are not able to spend money on products produced by honest and fair businesses.