When Alan Greenspan was the Fed chief he lowered the interest rate to the lowest in 40 years.

Who was helped and who was hurt by such a drastic manipulation of the U.S. currency?

The exporters jumped for joy!  They could compete with other nations that hadn't devalued their currencies.  What Greenspan had done for U.S. exporters was grant a subsidy which many countries felt was taking an unfair advantage.

The hotel industry loved the dollar destruction Greenspan designed.  And, of course, the theme parks like Disneyland thrived when the low dollar value gave nice holiday vacations on the cheap for foreign tourists.

Could the collapse of the U.S. banking system represent capitalism's last gasp?

President-elect Obama declared the U.S. needed change.  With the economy collapsing after manufacturing ran away and big banks failing, obviously some drastic changes were desperately needed.

Time along can tell if the changes Obama is able to make can salvage our nation, that once was economically independent, that is a far cry from today's dependency on China, Saudi Arabia and Japan who are buying U.S. bonds to keep our nation's Iraq and Afghanistan long running wars going.

That plus the ever increasing welfare system must be kept going.  U.S. citizens depend on government funding for food (35 million in U.S now on food stamps), housing, health care and education.  With 10 million unemployed now welfare is obviously essential.