You wouldn't want America to become like a European Socialist country...

[LoveLife&Laughter]

...would you?

 

[ellevan]

Hell, yeah.  I have thought we should become a Socialist country for years, much to the horror and dismay of many of my family members and friends.  Socialism is not a bad thing, IMHO.  I remember the first time I read about it back in middle school, I think and I wondered why everyone was so horrified then.  

[LoveLife&Laughter]

I wouldn't lose any sleep...

[Lifesighs]

It would be my personal preference. Yes to socialism.

[Snagg]

Considering that, to a large degree, we already ARE  "socialist" - And the evidence around the world that a socialism-based political model CAN work, and not making the specious claim that the collapsed Soviet Russia was the only socialist country that ever existed - I'm not too worried about it. We are still fundamentally a democratic nation, and will remain that way - The public good CAN be provided for, even though it chaps the asses of selfish, greedy bankers and redneck misanthropes.

[LoveLife&Laughter]

Yes we are already socialist. And Capitalist also, as well as a Republic.  Works together well unless you want your religion and 1% to be a Dictatorship, which is what the GOP is really all about.  Didn't use to be, but now there isn't much more then Scrooges and Jesus Freaks.

[exedir]

First, we can't afford it.  And second, our institutions and way our economy is organized it would be difficult to be "European".  

What we do have is a country that is defined more by what we can afford than what we would like and we have been that way until recently, and recently being since the Great Depression.  Over time the state has taken on social obligations of retirement and health care that were not characteristic of America and Americans who were provided those social benefits through individual, family or charitable efforts and welfare was only grudgingly given by the public dole, and not at the Federal level. 

Now what we do have is more like national socialism in that only those social interest vital to the function of the society and state are provided or subsidized by revenues collected by the state which include business interests as well as individual and communal interests.  And yes, there are favored individuals, institutions and industries.  And yes, the state's power to regulate and penalize is used as much a part of the promotion of state interests as is any direct control an economic entity in the mix.  And yes, there is a component of process which included extraordinary entities that have economic control and interest such as the Federal Reserve, SEC, FTC and FHA that are "independent" with given charters to perform certain economic functions.

So, if we are anything we are not European and getting less European every day; Latin, maybe, European, no. 

[ProblemAgain]

could i ask you to proofread your posts? they are often hard to understand.

but i am thinking i disagree with you in some areas...for instance business and government are two separate entities and areas. we have a tradition of the employer providing, to some degree, medical and retirement to the employees based on length of service to that employer..and there was a trade-off in that the employer traded that for the employees forgoing higher wages (let's face it...you can't say employees have to save for retirement and pay them minimum wage with no benefits)

social security was introduced because of so many bank failures..there were so many people whose retirement savings were vaporized by the bank failures and wall street..(sound familiar? the more things change, the more they remain the same) but you had lots of older people who had worked and saved their entire lives and were destitute through no fault of their own. (there are estimates that up to 7 million people starved during the great depression) your interpretation of that as national socialism is incorrect. in fact we strive to keep government and business separated instead of merged as national socialism under hitler did in order to maximize profits for the big commercial entities augmented by the power of the state...

as a side note, our friends at hostess turn out to have used the pension fund money to run the company while they were doling out bonuses to themselves....

[Lifesighs]

We can afford it easily if we give up being the Police of the world. 

[exedir]

Your right ls, it is choices.  Hard ones at that, than have been postpone for years if not decades.  And it probably be postponed until the 113th Congress, if not longer.

[Ioruach]

Definition of SOCIALISM

1

: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2

a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property

b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3

: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

 

So you can see, not even European countries are true Socialist entities. In fact, far from it.  Republicans mostly want to use that imagery to frighten us.  And it is really B.S.

[LoveLife&Laughter]

It isn't even imagery, it's imagination. 

[Ioruach]

Hallucination.