Their argument was all about the greatness of capitalism and the horrors of socialism.
It was funny in a ridiculous and ironic way--not intentionally. The writer was quite sure that NOT providing perks to get the companies was socialism and that providing them was pure, American capitalism.
WHAT?
Why are we Americans so in love with capitalism and so afraid of socialism.
Is it just remnants of the old "Cold War".
Our two nemesises of that sort-of war are neither one very socialistic these days.
Both have a dictatorial leader that is voted in, no free press, and a thriving capitalistic economy with few if any workers rights. (The USA has a three branch government specifically to prevent dictator's from arising, its a system of checks and balances whereby each branch is equally powerful)
China's voting system
Russia's voting system
USA voting system
Comparison of populations of these three, while China is huge, the United States is 3rd and Russia is 8th. We ignore all the others except Japan, treating them like small, 3rd world nations but I have clothing with tags from all those other nations except Nigeria which is a major exporter of petroleum, cocoa, and timber.
GDP (current US$)
GDP comparison
The USA is #1 at 19,362,129 (US$mm)
EU combined 17,112,922 (US$mm)
China 11,937,562 (US$mm)
Russia at #12 1,469,341(US$mm)
Now, lets look at socialism.
a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Below, you will see some of the most socialistic nations in the world today:
- China
- Denmark
- Finland
- Netherlands
- Canada
- Sweden
- Norway
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- Belgium
But what is Capitalism?
an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.
SOOOOO........
To be a truly capitalistic society, no more price-fixing. No more farm subsidies or government buying the overages and throwing them out to keep prices from going too low. No more import taxes to protect local producers. No more bail-outs of things like banks and the automobile industry. No more tax-breaks for industries that are having a hard time competing.
None of that.
At the most capitalistic, everything is owned by someone, bridges and roads, libraries and schools, prisons, hospitals, museums, sidewalks, water supplies---everything. And only those that can afford those things get to use them.
And we in the USA worship that. We want our old without money to die rapidly on the streets the minute they can't physically work. We want the children of those that can't afford schools to be illiterate and those that are born with disabilities to die as early and cheaply as possible.
Capitalism is not now, nor has it ever been hooked to democracy.
A democracy is about equality of all citizens, unrelated to how much money a person has, how talented a person is, or whether they share the same cultural, religious, ethnic or genetic make-up of the others in the community.
Democracy is NOT tribal.
There is a reason for the rise in Social Democracy.
There is a reason that those countries that are both democratic AND have high levels of social programs are happiest, more productive and live longer.
The next time someone starts on the downfall of us all due to social programs, google any of these places:
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
New Zealand
Canada
Netherlands
Belgium
The social programs offered in these places are aimed at protecting citizens from the economic risks and insecurities of life.
We in the USA are actually pretty comfortable with the few we have.
We pay in to Social Security, it's the law, with full expectation of it being there when we retire without having first grabbed the brass ring or won the lottery. We expect it even if we have done well with our 401k. We count on it if we die when our surviving spouse is trying to raise our offspring, so that the family does not suffer too much economic woe.
We count on unemployment checks when we are laid off, and get angry if we don't qualify.
We count on Pell grants when we can't pay for our children's college.
We count on Emergency rooms seeing us when we are sick or injured and our job doesn't provide insurance.
We count on Medicaid when we can's afford family coverage for our children to receive healthcare.
We count on FEMA when there is a disaster.
We count on tax breaks for childcare and healthcare and mortgage interest.
AND, we give money to the Oil and Gas industry so they can stay in business.
We give money to national and international businesses to get them to settle in our area.
We send our children to public schools--a social program if ever there was one.
We drive on roads and cross bridges to get where we need to go--all bought by our tax dollars--socialism at its finest.
We check out books from libraries and go to our municipal parks for recreation.
We use public transportation.
We call fire departments and police departments.
We, in this Capitalistic, we-just-need-to-protect-the-free-market, get government regulation out of our business, fine country, rely on our social programs--some for the complained about "entitlements"(about 49%/year) and all for something, whether saving their business or allowing them to drive on the road.
In a true free market, with no government bailouts, no tax breaks, no local perks, we would currently have 38% fewer farmers (assuming they are dependent on those farm subsidies). Twenty per cent fewer corporations (assuming they are not profitable without that government handout.) And countless individuals that received unemployment during a downturn that lived cheap but didn't become homeless, sick people that got care late in an emergency room as opposed to dying on a sidewalk, and never mind the 90 percent of children that attend public schools instead of private.
The difference between the United States and the 3rd world nations with the worst human conditions is NOT capitalism but our social programs that we all can count on when bad things happen.
If you have ever benefitted from any of our social programs, and I recently benefitted from FMLA, which allowed me to take off for illness without losing my job, then stop being a total nimrod.
We are a nation of people, bad stuff happens and most of us are having a hard enough time treading water in the good times. A safety net for the people in this country is not the enemy.
Boundless greed might destroy us, but helping people survive the hard times is not going to take down our nation.
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