St. Louis, Missouri (CNN) - Calling it a 'moral failure of tragic proportions,' Mitt Romney will argue free enterprise has weakened under President Barack Obama in a speech Thursday.

"But sadly, it has become clear that this president simply doesn't understand or appreciate these fundamental truths of our system," according to excerpts released in advance by the Romney campaign.

"This is not just a failure of policy; it is a moral failure of tragic proportions. Our government has an absolute moral commitment to help every American help themselves and today, that fundamental commitment has been broken."

The Republican Party's all-but official presidential nominee will tout the fundamentals of a free enterprise system as the answer to reviving the economy.

Romney charges that Obama not upholding these values has led to Americans losing their jobs, disappearing from the work force and living in poverty.

"That same system has helped lift more people out of poverty across the globe than any government program or competing economic system. The success of America's free enterprise system has been a bright beacon of freedom for the world. It has signaled to oppressed people to rise up against their oppressors, and given hope to the once hopeless."

The businessman and former governor of Massachusetts will speak before hundreds at the St. Louis company Production Products, a small minority-owned business that provides ground support equipment to the United States military.