[Dead Corpse]

We USED to have a free market economy. Arguably, it hasn't been that way in a LONG time. It could even be argued that we've NEVER really had as free a market economy as we could have had.

We've always had problems too...

However, free markets work better than managed economies. The "manager" always manages to screw some fundamental up that causes problems later on.

[Hendrix]

We still have a free market economy; although, there is a lot of government intervention in our economy so you are correct that it is looking more like some mix of socialism (Welfare State). It is not pure capitalism, but it is an economy based on free market capitalism with too much government intervention from the Left.