Capitalism vs Socialism - America's Choice

hindsight · March 16, 2019, 6:25pm

You are wrong.

matt1618 · March 16, 2019, 10:09pm

Not socialist.

SottoVoce · March 17, 2019, 2:07am

Some of those meet the basic definition of socialism.

Military: publicly funded organization run by the government providing defense and other services.

Police and fire: publicly funded organizations run by the (local) government providing personal and property security.

US Post Office: publicly funded organization run by the government providing mail services.

Medicare and Medicaid: publicly funded organizations run by the government providing health care funding.

None of those groups are privately owned or purposefully run for profit.

lessright · March 17, 2019, 2:17am

The Post Office would like to make a profit, or at least break even.

Absolution · March 17, 2019, 2:55am

The satisfaction of mocking those who in the name of silly labels, consistently vote against their own self interests.

WuWei · March 17, 2019, 2:58am

Thanks. Is it very satisfying?

SottoVoce · March 17, 2019, 6:35am

Sure, but it is not driven for profit by an owner or shareholders. Its primary role is to provide a service to the public which funds it.

AZslim · March 17, 2019, 6:37am

What is “taking it from someone who is hard working and successful”?

W_and_C · March 17, 2019, 7:56am

That picture’s not telling the entire story. In addition to the golden eggs, there are also some very unsavory smelly droppings.

Calvin_Reagan · March 17, 2019, 11:49am

I hate to break it people, particularly the cons here, but the U.S is NOT a capitalistic economy. It’s a MIXED economy.

The U.S is a blend of capitalism and socialism in its conceptual belief. We have private businesses, public businesses, and government controlled businesses, and we have regulations making sure everything flows properly and protects civil rights.

Nobody is advocating for socialism. The left/progressives are arguing that we should model ourselves after Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland aka Democratic Socialist countries. They are not asking for full-blown socialism. They want tuition-free college for public universities, and everybody to be on medicad. Whether or not you agree with it (I don’t), is up for debate. But there has to be an honest discussion on it.

Absolution · March 17, 2019, 2:07pm

Calvin_Reagan:

I hate to break it people, particularly the cons here, but the U.S is NOT a capitalistic economy. It’s a MIXED economy.

The U.S is a blend of capitalism and socialism in its conceptual belief. We have private businesses, public businesses, and government controlled businesses, and we have regulations making sure everything flows properly and protects civil rights.

Nobody is advocating for socialism. The left/progressives are arguing that we should model ourselves after Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland aka Democratic Socialist countries. They are not asking for full-blown socialism. They want tuition-free college for public universities, and everybody to be on medicad. Whether or not you agree with it (I don’t), is up for debate. But there has to be an honest discussion on it.

Stop ruining it for them. It’s soooo much easier to keep it simple: “socialism bad!!” This way you don’t have to think. Just like: “Mexicans are bad”. See how easy that is? It’s sooooo hard to think critically. It’s soooo hard to think through how some social policy that isn’t just flat out unilaterally for the benefit of the top 1% might actually make lives better for everyone. (But what about my freedom!!??). And since they don’t know how to do that, they’re really easy for the republican media/entertainment complex to steer.

WuWei · March 17, 2019, 6:06pm

The first phrase is cute.

The second sentence is not true.

Forcefield · March 17, 2019, 6:14pm

Also: highways. Libraries. National parks. Museums. Waterways. Public education. Public water fountains. Public toilets. Public prisons.

WuWei · March 17, 2019, 6:38pm

No, they meet the definition of pooling resources.

“Communitivism”

Absolution · March 17, 2019, 7:18pm

Stop! You’re confusing me! Socialism bad!!!

Calvin_Reagan · March 17, 2019, 8:20pm

Who is advocating for socialism?

WuWei · March 17, 2019, 8:21pm

Everybody but me and you.

Calvin_Reagan · March 17, 2019, 8:24pm

Fair point. I have been a small government-deficits matter conservative for a long time. The Republicans pretend to be that.

WuWei · March 17, 2019, 8:27pm

I’m not sure deficits do matter, but I ain’t smart. Numbers is hard.

johnwk2 · March 17, 2019, 9:21pm

mobulis:

johnwk2:

BonAppetit:

Democrats have gone in all-in on socialism. Extremists like Ocasio-Cortez are steering the ship. A vote for a D is a vote for the DSA. Americans now have a choice. Do they want stability, prosperity, peace and to bask in the light of a system that has lifted billions out of poverty worldwide? Or do they want to embrace a system that has never worked, and have starvation, looting, murder and rape running rampant on the streets?

Radicals like Ocasio-Cortez are the greatest threat to the Republic in over a century. All Americans must hope sanity prevails and their extreme socialist views will not spread futher.

Your thread title ought to have been:

Capitalism vs Socialism vs our free enterprise system - America’s Choice

For distinctions between our system, as intended by our Founders, and “Capitalism”, see: PART TWO: Free Enterprise is Better than Capitalism The following descriptions of “Capitalism” and “Free Enterprise” are noted as follows:

Capitalism (crony capitalism) : A system where the law encourages market forces and also gives preference and special benefits to the sector of the economy owned by big capital—including big corporations like in Corporatism, but also wealthy foreign and multinational corporations, and highly influential non-corporate institutions such as rich foundations, moneyed trusts, political parties, well-funded lobbies and special interest groups, affluent non-profit entities, wealthy families, moneyed foreign investors, and others with large amounts of capital. Under this system, the rich rule society, and they naturally influence government to maintain policies that benefit the rich more than others.

Free Enterprise: A system where the law encourages market forces and gives no special preferences; it protects equal rights for all individuals and entities and leaves initiative and enterprise to private individuals, groups, businesses and organizations that are all treated equally and with minimal legislation by the legal code.

Today we have capitalism being practiced in the United States instead of a free enterprise free market system. Obama, engaged in capitalism under the guise of “green energy”, and 85 % of green energy capital supplied by the federal government went to Obama’s donors.

President Bush and the Republicans practiced capitalism when they passed the farm subsidy bill in 2008

Under a free enterprise/free market system, as our founders intended, no preferential treatment is to be expected while the inalienable right of people being free to mutually agree in their contracts and associations would be a primary priority of government.

Under Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s and Bernie Sanders’ form of capitalism, the distribution capital from our federal treasury would continue and simply create different privileged classes, and preferential treatment would remain the order of the day.

But under a free enterprise/free market system, as our founders intended, no preferential treatment is to be expected while the inalienable right of people being free to mutually agree in their contracts and associations would be a primary priority of government.

Your OP title ought to be changed.

JWK

The Federal Reserve System of 1913 and the Sixteenth Amendment, also of 1913, have spread the evil tentacles of crony capitalism into almost every corner of our once free market, free enterprise system.

So your motto is let the buyer beware.

Huh? What on earth are you suggesting?

JWK

Politically speaking, a fully informed citizen in today’s society is one who diligently gathers their news from MSNBC and Fox News, i.e., opposing points of view.