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A reporter's natural instinct is to go where the stories are. So, while it's a departure from the household-name Jewish journalism he's done in the past -- such as the Jerusalem Post and the Forward -- Ira Stoll's new project seemed like the next logical step in his career.

Stoll is the founder and editor of the Web site The Future of Capitalism (FutureOfCapitalism.com).

"In terms of good stories right now, I think the future of capitalism is the hottest story out there," Stoll told The Jewish State. "The government is taking over the banking industry, and the auto industry, and is close to taking over health care. And it's a big change from what we've known in this country and what's been successful. So it's pretty dramatic, and I kind of want to focus on that, as a reporter and an editor."

The site was publicly launched Sept. 9, after a "beta" period beginning May 21. Stoll said the site will be both an aggregator of capitalism-related news and contain original reporting and analysis.

Stoll was previously Washington correspondent and then managing editor of the Forward, as well as North American editor of the Jerusalem Post and managing editor of the New York Sun. He admitted working from home on a Web site -- he has site design help from a co-worker named Grayson Levy, based in Israel -- is bereft of the energy of a newsroom, but doesn't discount the possibility that the site's growth could change that dynamic.

"You don't have to commute to work and wear a suit and tie most of the time, but you don't get the fun of interacting with a lot of colleagues," Stoll said. "But I hope this site will grow, and so we'll see. The New York Sun, which eventually had about 100 employees, began as a Web site called SmarterTimes.com, which I also did from home by myself."

With regard to the site's stated purpose, Stoll said it's up for debate whether capitalism has much of a future.

"I hope it does, because I think it's the best system of all the choices, and it leads to growth and prosperity and innovation," Stoll said. "But, we also just had a crisis, and there's a tendency to overreact to crises."

While the economic downturn sparked by the mortgage and credit crises hasn't resolved, analysts are looking back in an attempt to discern the causes. That debate, at its core, is whether to fault government intervention in the market or to blame the market -- and the capitalist system -- itself.

"It may take a while for the American public to figure this all out," Stoll said. "I think some of the resistance that you're seeing to the health care overhaul is a sign that people are starting to figure it out -- or at least they're nervous about a wholesale abandonment of capitalism."

And while the trend has lately been more government regulation -- especially in the banking sector -- Stoll noted that both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush rolled back tax increases, though were unable ultimately to reduce the size of the federal government.

"Certainly the fall of the Soviet Union and that sort of communist empire is a sign of hope," he said. "And I think even in Israel there's been some real progress toward market-oriented reforms, with cutting taxes and privatizing some of the state-owned industries. And in Germany and France, the more free market-oriented parties have recently won electoral victories. So if I thought that all this stuff was irreversible, I wouldn't be doing this."

Stoll said the situation is often characterized as a pendulum swinging between two extremes, with a tendency toward overreaction.

"I think that overall in terms of the really broad sweep of history, people have been moving toward more freedom," he said. "And so I think if you take the long view, my hope is that that trend will continue."

While the Web site doesn't have a Jewish angle, Stoll said Jews and capitalism are often conflated by enemies of the West, which feeds into conspiracy theories about sinister Jews pulling the strings of capitalism behind the scenes in their bid for global control.

"I think that capitalism is a system under which Jews have really prospered," he said. "And a lot of the enemies of capitalism are also enemies of the Jews."

They are, he stressed, certainly not one and the same, but Jews have a stake in capitalism and the system of economic freedom that has allowed them to find a strong measure of security in the United States.

Stoll recently published his first book as well, a biography of Samuel Adams, which is due out in paperback in November. In the book, "Samuel Adams: A Life," he describes how Adams, as well as other American revolutionaries, were inspired by the story of the Israelites' exodus from Egyptian slavery. They compared King George III to Pharaoh, and one Boston minister even compared Adams to Moses. It is a source of easy connection between the U.S. and Israel today.

"That analogy is a current that runs deep in American history and culture," Stoll said.