Are we solely a capitalistic country in terms of economy or are we somewhere between socialism and capitalism?

[Jim]

The US is typically considered a capitalistic economy. However, in reality the US has a mixed economy. The vast majority of the economy runs under the free-market principle and would be considered capitalistic. There are some aspects of the economy that use the concepts of socialism, such as welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

There is also a large amount of government spending on things such as roads and bridges that would not be done by the private sector (although it is the private sector doing the work). There are government regulations for certain jobs (not just anyone can be a surgeon or a lawyer, you don't see the free-market weeding out the joe schmoes that open up their own operating room).

Many services, typically public goods, connected to the economy are funded or run by some level of government (no private police or fire stations).

Personally I don't think a completely socialistic or a completely capitalistic economy is the best solution. Extremes rarely are. I think that we need some level of "socialism", primarily in the form of government regulation. I believe there is a time and a place for large amounts of government spending, but it cannot be the norm. I believe some level of transfer payments such as welfare, social security, etc. is beneficial to the society as a whole. However, these transfer payments need to have some stipulations attached and should not be "hand outs".

And again this is only my opinion. A nationalized banking system would be great because this would mean the banks would not chase after profits like they did with the subprime loans fiasco. Banks only job would be to keep peoples' money safe and to loan out to those that are in fact low risk to help the economy grow. There would NEVER be a time when a bank could fail because it would be one system. Our economy, for better or worse, is completely dependent on the flow of credit. Massive bank failures and the stop of that flow of credit cripples our economy.