Berlin-- the fall of Communism...and the fall of Capitalism??

As a political science major, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and consequently, the fall of communism, was of major interest to me. The timing of being in Berlin during the anniversary of the reunification served as an interesting background to the ongoing financial crisis and the supposed fall of capitalism.

When I graduated from college, I was a total believer in free markets and considered myself a total capitalist. The welfare state, 35-hour workweeks, state and government sponsored safety nets and 6-week vacations were an outdated way of running an economy, I thought. When I was studying abroad in Spain back in 1997, due to a 18% unemployment rate, I was getting my haircut by a 29-year old chemical engineer who couldn't get a job, further confirming my bias towards all things capitalist. And to top it all off, everything is closed on Sundays! Back then, I thought, closing shop on Sunday represented a lost opportunity to MAKE MONEY. After travelling through Europe over the past few months, and consequently, spending many lazy Sunday afternoons at the park, in the plaza, in the house with friends, I've realized that life isn't that bad when things are closed on Sundays. It's just good to have a day to do nothing but relax and strengthen your relationships. How many times have we all been unable to meet up with friends because we had to run errands on the weekends? If we all ran them on Saturdays, we'd have nothing to do but relax and meet up with friends on Sundays!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally forsaking my capitalist roots, but given my experience so far in Europe amidst the global meltdown of our financial markets, I think it's not such a bad thing to reevaluate how free and open our markets should be-- much less having anything open on Sundays.