Comments on: Socialism Sucks – Government Improvement Series

By: JustWill

JustWill — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:35:02 +0000

Thanks for the link. I missed that info in the middle of all the campaign mud-slinging last Fall. Seems like everyone was playing fast and free with the “facts”.

By: UH2L

UH2L — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:34:02 +0000

People keep blaming Clinton for the housing crisis, but it’s only partially his administration’s fault. Read the part under “The Real Deal” at this link…
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/who_caused_the_economic_crisis.html

I would say deficit spending got us into this mess but that’s not necessarily tied to socialism. War spending and tax cuts contributed for sure and purely capitalist governments can do those things as well. Rate cuts aren’t tied to socialism at all either. In fact, that’s pure capitalism.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:23:45 +0000

“You forget how the other “socialist” countries such as in Europe are doing better than we are and didn’t have as much of a crisis as we did in North America.”

You forget how it was the “socialist” policies in our country, like Clinton’s housing practices, the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts, and George W. Bush’s deficit spending that brought about this crash.

By: DDFD @ DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD @ DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:34:44 +0000

Quite simply– the more things change, the more they stay the same.

By: UH2L

UH2L — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:18:05 +0000

You forget how the other “socialist” countries such as in Europe are doing better than we are and didn’t have as much of a crisis as we did in North America. Socialism is not so cut and dry anyway. It’s just a label and has the business side as well as the social side. What we have had here in the US is what I call “hypercapitalism”. Everything revolves around making money and it has affected how we care for our people (and our selves). We are too wealthy a nation to let our children starve and not get doctor’s check-ups. It’s a shame. The long term effects are that our nation becomes less competitive economically in this global environment. If we let what’s left of our manufacturing and technology base shrivel up and die, then our economy suffers too. We need to export manufactured goods to bring money into our economy. You can’t export haircuts and carwashes.

People forget that when we don’t take care of our people, we end up spending more on healthcare, crime prevention and other areas. If we let our industries fail and people lose jobs, the tax revenues dry up and the government ends up spending more later. It’s not fair that people who made bad decisions get bailed out, but if they are not helped, we all get hurt more. The prime example is foreclosures and abandoned houses reducing the value of my house which is paid for on time.

Obama is doing what needs to be done because things went way too far the other way for far too long.

By: JustWill

JustWill — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:22:21 +0000

Steve,
I agree with you completely. I think a lot of people are looking for a fall guy and blaming Obama because things have come to a head (or an abyss). The bail outs started before he was even elected! Dealing with these issues require looking at the root of the issues

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:29:05 +0000

Someone seems to have enjoyed my comment so much that they scraped it. Oh well.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:08:07 +0000

I don’t have time to read this. I’m going to get my fully paid-for car crushed into a cube so I can buy a brand new one on credit through the cash for clunkers program. The recession is over, man!

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:28:21 +0000

I think most people have a hard time wrapping their head around the intricate and sometimes confusing concepts surrounding socialism and capitalism and we end up making blanket statements in either direction and don’t really know how to refute the counter-arguments.

But experiments like those of the professor are great illustrations of what happens when incentives change. The incentive of individual excellence is replaced with the desire to free-load.

I don’t often talk about politics, but the latest series of bailouts has me thinking. What I do believe in is personal responsibility.

But if the automakers fail, think of the trickle-down effect, my coworkers say. Parts suppliers, local economies, and many other industries will fail…

Okay, fine. But money is money – if it’s spent through the government, it has to be taken through taxes. And that results in lower spending, which fails local economies anyway.

I may not be an economist and I certainly don’t understand everything, but I think timeless principles need to be respected or a very hard, concrete wall will eventually be hit…

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:36:41 +0000

David, well said.
An engineering student I know wants to work for the government instead of a business, because she won’t have to work very hard. And working for a company would be too much work. She said this very emphatically.