Americans hate and love Socialism. There is a lot of BS about any new ideas for socialist programs, but are the socialist ideas floating in 2019 as bad as the propaganda? Are the 2019 socialist ideas taking from the rich to give to the poor in extravagant ways, sever ways, unfair ways?
America has Social Security, Medicare, government provides many, MANY SUBSIDIES as the cartoon shows, and the rich in this country get special tax breaks and banks treat them like Royal Partners.
Then there is Democratic Socialism in 2019.
In Atlas Shrugged, the government nationalizes businesses supposedly for the good of the whole, but more for corrupt reasons, the smartest and best business leaders leave society, Dagny Taggart helps John Galt, John Galt helps Dagny, and John Galt stops the engine of the World.
FACT: the American economy is not pure capitalism, and it does NOT exclude socialist programs! Get woke!
NO ONE is trying to "stick it" to the rich. That's just dumb. One less yacht in not unfair to the rich! One less vacation mansion is not hurting the rich?
Europe does not inherit their wealth any more than Americans, nor any less!
Stop the Red Herring arguments about socialist programs, and try to see pros and cons of each idea.
"Is the U.S. Capitalist, Socialist or Something In-between?"
by Peter Smirniotopoulos 12/06/2008
http://www.newgeography.com/content/00457-is-us-capitalist-socialist-or-something-in-between
America had to do a lot of socialist work to rescue our economy in 2008!
"During the Presidential campaign, then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama inartfully described his proposed federal income tax cuts for the middle class as “sharing the wealth.” His more strident right-wing opponents – including Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin – almost immediately labeled Obama “a socialist,” adding to a litany of alleged infirmities as a presidential candidate that included lacking executive experience; being a closet Muslim; and “someone who pals around with terrorists.”
Yet in reality Obama’s middle class tax proposal may have been the least “socialist” concept that has been floated and acted upon by a broad array of elected officials and senior-level appointees since four weeks before and four weeks after the Presidential election. This includes not only the huge federal financial bailout and taking of ownership of major investment and commercial banks – something embraced by the establishments of both political parties and the putative ‘capitalist’ business elites – but a series of other proposals, including the bailout of the Big Three American automakers, that are far more socialistic than a tax cut."
More. Let's NOT oversimplify the truth about capitalism and socialism in America. Both live together in America.
"Socialism, of course, places primary ownership of the means of production in the hands of the state, or in some cases, corporate entities controlled by the state. In its extreme cases, such as in North Korea, this reality is absolute; in many other countries, state control is predominant and preeminent but pockets of private enterprise, usually small-scale and concentrated in agriculture or business services, still exist.
Capitalism is a much more vague idea but essentially reverses priorities, putting the predominant role in the hands of private interests such as investors and corporations. State power in a capitalist country usually focuses on the creation of standards, public health, safety, and welfare, such things as regulating the currency, protecting the environment, and assuring the health of the populace.
In contrast to the 19th Century, the US already operates on a much-diluted form of capitalism. Our markets are not free; they are highly regulated (and yet many would today argue they are not highly regulated enough). The exchange rates and values of our currency do not float freely but are heavily manipulated through federal government rate-setting activities. Investment decisions are not driven purely by return expectations or classic risk/reward analyses; rather they are incentivized or discouraged by a byzantine system of rewards and penalties affectionately known as the Internal Revenue Code. In other words, the federal government – under both Democrat and Republican Administrations and supported by both Houses of Congress – intervenes routinely in how markets operate and how capital is deployed. In this sense the federal tax code is fundamentally a mechanism for wealth redistribution, so candidate Obama’s statement about his proposed middle-class tax cut simply represented a shift to one set of priorities, much as the Bush Administration’s tax cuts represented another."
OK, we have some socialism in America, WHEN NEEDED! By the way, NO ONE is suggesting property in America be co-owned, wealth in America be 100% shared. NO ONE!
Socialism, fairly defined and explained in the context of how Americans would like to live, is a good thing!
"What Would a Socialist America Look Like?"
We asked thinkers on the left—and a couple of outliers—to describe their vision for a re-imagined American economy.
By POLITICO MAGAZINE September 03, 2018
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/03/what-would-a-socialist-america-look-like-219626
"For Fox News viewers, it’s the stuff of nightmares—not to mention that skittish Democrats fear alienating swing voters more comfortable with their party’s post-Lyndon B. Johnson incrementalism. According to a poll from August, however, for the first time since Gallup has asked the question, more Democrats approve of socialism than of capitalism."
Let's see what this American "socialism" might look like?
"One way to implement socialism in the United States would be to copy many of the economic institutions found in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. These countries, which consistently rank near the top of the world in happiness, human development and overall well-being, have highly organized labor markets, universal welfare states and relatively high levels of public ownership of capital.
To move in the Nordic direction, the United States should promote the mass unionization of its workforce, increase legal protections against arbitrary termination and allow workers to control some of the seats on the corporate boards of the companies they work in, as Senator Elizabeth Warren has recently suggested.
When it comes to the welfare state, the country should create a national health insurance system, akin to some Democrats’ “Medicare for All” proposals, extend new parents paid leave from work, provide young children free child care and pre-K, and give each family a $300 per month allowance per child. The United States should also provide housing stipends to those on low incomes and increase the minimum benefits for those on senior and disability pensions.
To increase public ownership over capital, the government should establish a social wealth fund and gradually fill that fund with capital assets purchased on the open market. Over time, the returns from this fund could be parceled out as universal payments to every American, or used for general government revenue. The government should also build at least 10 million units of publicly owned, mixed-income social housing, which would both increase public ownership of the U.S. housing stock and provide a much-needed boost to the housing supply in prohibitively expensive metropolitan areas."
There's lots to sort out in this discussion of socialism in America.
"Democratic socialism is about expanding democracy.
David Duhalde is the senior electoral manager for Our Revolution, the Sanders-inspired progressive nonprofit."
"Call it what you want, it’s about making communities more equal. [Another scary, very scary word, "communism."]
"Socialism, to me, means ensuring that our government policy puts human needs before corporate greed and that we build communities where everyone has a chance to thrive. "
"Democratic socialism means democratic ownership over the economy.
Peter Gowan is a fellow with the progressive nonprofit the Democracy Collaborative."
"It’s about giving everyone a voice in decision-making.
Maria Svart is national director of the Democratic Socialists of America."
"The problem with capitalism is not just that a system fueled by a wealthy, profit-hungry elite is inherently unstable, or that it leaves whole layers of society starving in the streets. It is that it relies on the dictatorship of the rich. The fundamental difference we expect from a socialist society is that we will all have a voice in the decisions that impact our lives. Workplaces will be owned by the workers who run them, rather than an authoritarian boss."
"It’s much simpler: social insurance.
Samuel Hammond is director of poverty and welfare studies at the free market think tank the Niskanen Center."
"Forget social democracy. America is ready for actual socialism.
Joe Guinan is executive director of the Next System Project at the Democracy Collaborative."
"A radical alternative to an American capitalist system that is anything but free.
Thomas Hanna is director of research at the Democracy Collaborative."
This one scares me to read Atlas Shrugged again . . . ;< )
"America could turn into Western Europe. But should it?
Carrie Lukas is the president of the Independent Women’s Forum. She lived in the European Union for the majority of the past decade."
"A complete welfare state, a transformed labor market and state ownership of the means of production.
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent for The Week."
"Markets are not enough to solve the problems we face.
Sean McElwee is a writer and the co-founder of Data for Progress."
"Socialism is the radically simple idea that democratic values should guide our economy toward the maximization of human flourishing, rather than the accumulation of capital."
Socialism, fairly defined and explained in the context of how Americans would like to live, is a good thing!
"Ocasio-Cortez jabs GOP over 'faux-outrage' following fellow Democrat's comments"
The Washington Post | Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019
https://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/14472071-74/ocasio-cortez-jabs-gop-over-faux-outrage-following-fellow-democrats-comments
"WASHINGTON - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came to the defense of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., on Saturday - denouncing what she called “faux-outrage” over profane language Tlaib used while calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.“
Republican hypocrisy at its finest: saying that Trump admitting to sexual assault on tape is just ‘locker room talk,’ but scandalizing themselves into faux-outrage when my sis says a curse word in a bar,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “GOP lost entitlement to policing women’s behavior a long time ago. Next.”
Speaking directly to Tlaib, who on Thursday became the first Palestinian American woman sworn in as a member of Congress, Ocasio-Cortez added: “I got your back.”"
