Headlines like “Is Capitalism dead?”, “Capitalism at bay”, and the likes have been crowding the major newsletter media outlets including but not limited to the Washington Post and the Economist. Some Medias made this issue their editorial. The Economist believes that now economic liberty is under attack and capitalism, the system which embodies it, is at bay. It decries that all the signs following the market crisis are pointing in the same direction: a larger role for the state, and a smaller and more constrained private sector. While the Economist admits there should be change and defending Capitalism, the Washington Post tried to define realities and made a prophetic utterance in the direction where the future leads.

The Washington post asks, “IS THIS the end of American capitalism?” It continues to argue that as financial panic spread across the globe and governments scrambled to contain the damage, reality seemed to announce the doom of U.S.-style free markets but it is wrong. However, in its editorial conclusion paragraph, the Washington post admits that the new capitalist model that emerges from this crisis must operate according to more consistent principles and it went to discuss some measures that should be considered to redefine the long standing market rules.

Whether capitalism is dead or wounded or at bay, as main news media are arguing and debating, signs are clear that this dominant and governing philosophy of more than 2 Centuries needs reform. Not only this is time to confront and define realities, change in this area long due. The meeting between President Bush, the President of European Union, and President Sarkozy on October 19, 2008 was an apparent symptom of global crisis that demanded the cooperation of major stakeholders to redefine the longstanding free market economy and its financial systems. Though President of the US admitted that there were flaws and need to be fixed; he warned that we should not over react and become protectionists in his effort to defend the values of Capitalism. On the other hand, President Sarkozy bought the warning from President Bush but strongly sounded ‘Self-regulation is finished’, ‘Laissez-faire is finished’. The real question lingering is the kind of reforms Capitalism, that embodies free market economy and globalization, needs to make to continue govern in the 21st C and whether there will be consensus among major players?

For France and two-thirds of the European nations, which are interventionist and social democrats, the crisis justifies their ‘social-capitalism’. On the contrary, for US -a leading ‘free-capitalism’ and one of the pioneering privatization nations- the action to bail out banks and aggressively heading to intensify regulations and government ownership in the free market is an obvious sign that capitalism is at bay, if not wounded severely. However, the fate of capitalism doesn’t look like left to be determined by these two major players. The invitation of world leaders for a global submit to discuss the crisis complicates its destiny and brings more stakeholders into play. We know that Europe has a strong sympathy for free-market oriented capitalism than other continents

Though we cannot predict the outcome of the coming mid November gathering of world leaders to deal this crisis, it is understandable that the need to redefine the broken financial systems will be one of the determinations the leaders might make. The resolutions will definitely impact the future prospect of capitalism and the socio-economic systems of the world deep into the 21st C. The decisions will definitely have impact well beyond fixing the contemporary burning issues that it requires careful, well calculated, and far reaching thoughts, scenarios, and negotiations.

Before closing this discussion, let’s remind ourselves that the financial system problem is not an isolated issue. It is not! Like headache, in most cases, is a complication symptom that signals one or more parts of the body might be diseased, the financial system is a reflection and signal of multiple systems breaks down. It should also be clear that change or fix in the financial system doesn’t make the 21st C a progressive Century. It looks like change is due in most systems, views, and fields to maximize the benefits of the Century. The change demands holistic approach! We are lagging behind and failed to receive the era with new wine-skin and the old one is bursting all over and showing how the various systems, views, and fields are too old, outdated, and need to be replaced with new ones

We shouldn’t also forget that the crack is not in the socio-political and economic arenas alone. If we just take the Christian Kingdom in the US, we see that the longstanding conservative view that focuses on moral issues like abortion and guy marriage no more rally this base. There is a division its due time passed long ago. Though the difference was manifested long ago, the 2008 Presidential Campaign brought the rift to light. More and more, in this Century that brought more complex and deadly challenges, conservatives are embracing other causes like HIV/AIDS, Poverty, and Environmental Degradations on top of moral issues and are departing from one party loyalty. The invitation of Pastor Rick Warren two of the Presidential Candidates for a debate in his Church was a plain sign of new order within the conservative base is surfacing. The question is, do leaders in the Conservative Christian Kingdom call for a discussion to unite the base by finding a middle groud before it is too late or wait for complete break down as we have seen in the financial system?

Redefine past philosophies, priorities, systems, theories, and more requires in materializing the 21st C progress. We cannot live in this Century with past brains and discoveries alone Thank God and those heroes and heroines of the past Centuries from whom we inherited a wonderful Century with their blood, sweat, talent, commitment, and sacrifices. This is our turn. It is not time for complacency and satisfying with what we have at hand: broken or outdated systems, curriculums, views, rules, regulations, and more. Time to shake up status quo!

The good news is that humanity has the mandate and the ability to harmonically govern and rule the universe as delegated by God, Who has infinite wisdom, power, and energy to give His kids what it takes to be effective stewards of the planet. There should be no panic about the multifaceted challenge humanity is facing. God has new insights in His store and what it takes is to tap into it. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the Sun. Therefore, let's go beyond the ‘Sun’ and download from the invisible world for the new change we need to fix the various challenges we have been facing.