Socialism

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[–]DffrntDrmmr 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

The new deal is a socialist program.

No, it was not. The New Deal was a US president's reform plan in capitalist America. I repeat: It was NOT a socialist program.

Grasping what socialism is and what it is not is where we should start. Capitalist countries (where wealth and the means of producing wealth are primarily in the hands of the private sector) have social programs and regulations. They are not "socialism."

Socialism is a socio-economic system in which wealth and the means of producing wealth are primarily in the hands of the government. (Though socialist dogma purports it's in the hands of "the people," "the worker," etc, it is not literally — it is under government control).

Reducing these president's words, plans and policies — designed to better the lives of Americans — as "socialism" is an insult to these leaders and capitalism's amazing success.

You're taking anything that can be described as social or beneficial and attributing it to socialism. Stop that!

Socialism has a horrible history of economic stagnancy that has never been able to compete with capitalism — and never will. There's good reason that the two largest countries that tried socialism (Russia and China) abandoned it for versions of capitalism.

There has never been an economic model that has bettered the lives of so many as capitalism, as practiced in 'Western' countries (including Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Australia, etc) — ALL representive democracies with capitalism. NONE are socialist countries.

Please learn what socialism really is and better understand your own country's form of political and economic structure.

At least take the time to read just paragraphs in encyclopedias. Don't listen to the false, revisionist rhetoric of ill-informed people on social media.

Again, everything that can be considered beneficial for society is not socialism. Socialism now rots on the trash heap of history for a reason — it sucks! At best it's inefficent and results in poor quality goods and half-empty store shelves, and people starved and suffered in countries where their leaders imposed socialism. It's biggest heroes are Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot, for Christ's sake! They killed millions of their own people.

I do appreciate you offering such a well-written response. But for the mis-application of the word "socialism," it's unconvincing.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Please learn what socialism really is and better understand your own country's form of political and economic structure.

Would you agree that if an economic theory doesn't make reliable real-world predictions, then it should be abandoned?

[–]DffrntDrmmr 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Please expound on your question, perhaps with an example.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The whole focus of classical economics is to tax wealth not income, and obviously, the tax burden was going to fall on the wealthy, on the landlords first and foremost, then on the bankers and then on the monopolists.

That was what socialism was, the idea of creating an economy with a circular flow that the taxes would be paid by the wealthy and the government would use this tax revenue to spend on infrastructure, schools, productive credit to help the economy and to make economies more competitive. It seems that in that sense socialism was going to be the most efficient capitalist economy.

The Vocabulary of “Economic Deception”. Dr. Michael Hudson

Currently, real world economic scenarios are called "special cases". Literally.

This is because modern economic theory's do not predict what actually happens in the real world.

So, in classrooms alleged economic theory is supposed to be "reality", and what happens in the real world is a "special case". Special cases need to be cherry picked for use in the classroom.

Modern economics is nonsense.

The original concept of socialism was hijacked and demonized by the oligarchs, because it threatened their position of power.

FDR and Eisenhower were social capitalists, because this was the best strategy for overall economic progress.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Do you still disagree with my argument?