I mean if the U.S went completely socialist and just dropped their capitalist mentality, would it work out? think about the average salary in the U.S is 47 000$ if the U.S raises its taxes high enough it could afford free health care and more unemployment benefits. would it ever end up like northwest Europe, or would its social gaps cause huge problems?
Politics - 14 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
all inflation aside, how is europe doing right now, economically? heard they were doin pretty good
2 :
If you think affordable (nothing is free) health care and unemployment bennies that hold someone who is truly looking for a job are "socialism," you might want to look up the definition of the word. We have a Socialist Party in the U.S. but they are not in power, and you don't have to worry about them coming into power. We couold learn a few things from other countries, you know. Over the past decade the United States and Canada faced the same global environment. Both were confronted with the same flood of cheap goods and cheap money from Asia. Economists in both countries cheerfully declared that the era of severe recessions was over. But when things fell apart, the consequences were very different here and there. In the United States, mortgage defaults soared, some major financial institutions collapsed, and others survived only thanks to huge government bailouts. In Canada, none of that happened. What did the Canadians do differently? They put a lot more regulation on banks. Here’s a very interesting article about what they did that we failed to do. Read how the Democrats are trying to do the right thing and the Republicans are trying to block them here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/01-7 ##
3 :
you are social on one world? hahahahaha yallz billy bad assses eh? bwahhahaha
4 :
If the US dropped capitalism it would look nothing like capitalist NW Europe. You mean if it dropped neo-classical capitalism.
5 :
Nope. Any place that has had a modicum of success with socialist policy has also had a mostly homogeneous population. That is why it would never work in the US.
6 :
Take away the incentive for achievers, and there will be no achievement and no creation of wealth. The standard of living will decline dramatically. Need an example? Look at what happened to East Germany when it was split from the West and behind the iron curtain. The hustling bustling economy of West Germany continued, while East Germany produced little other than doped up female Olympians.
7 :
It's trying to
8 :
Personnaly i do not think socialism would work in the United States because the government will control how much money you make. They want to bring everyone down to an even level. For example, lets say your an eye surgeon. And Your the best surgeon in the U.S. If you live in a socialist government you'll make the same profit as any other eye surgeon in the U.S. For this reason then there will be no point in striving ahead and making something out of your life. For the people who try and make something out of there life will be punished. The rich people's taxes will go up and the poor people's taxes will go down. Over time, this will bring everyone down to an even level. The money has to come from somewhere. Steel from the rich and pay the poor. Then since everyone's making the same amount of money, people will not be able to pay there employs and millions of people will lose jobs putting us in a worst state then we are now. It's one thing for the government to tax people to pay for a military to keep dem terrorists at bay; it's another thing for the government to tax people to give money to people who aren't working
9 :
from one who lived in one... Cuba it doesn't work, it rewards mediocrity, or down right selfish "loads" type people, it makes no one want to do more, because in the end all that hard work you do and its rewards gets re-route to the ones that perhaps have just been laying around collecting a pay check! it kills competition, the engine of true progress in nature...! so no, you keep your socialism and let me take my chances in this wonderful brutal capitalism... I bet you i will be in better shape in the log run that you ever will!
10 :
Aside from the fact socialism doesn't work anyways, it would work terribly in the United States. Socialism requires hard working people who care about the entire group. Based on the amount of people on welfare trying to find anyone to blame but themselves, socialism couldn't even work 1 generation in.
11 :
Then it wouldn't be America the land of the free.It would be just another communist/government controlled country like the USSR or Red China,We could rename our country the land of Obama,Pelosi and Reid! For the Obama,By the Obama and screw the people. Personally I've had it up to ,you know where with all this lying and cheating that's going on.The Auto industry's no good,the Bankers are no good,the medical system is no good,the insurance business is no good,on and on.Personally I think these socialistic,left wing commies are no good.
12 :
It hasn't been doing all that well. Socialism is State Capitalism, where the government owns or controls the means of production. It over-rides natural market forces of competition, supply & demand, and personal volition in support of the "common good." It redistributes existing wealth based upon "need" or government whim. As personal incentive fades in a socialist environment, so too does production and ultimately wages and tax revenues. Free-Enterprise Capitalism is quite different. It generates new wealth and distributes it on the basis of merit. It's a rare creature these days because governments find it dangerous to have citizens who can accumulate property and independence.
13 :
This scenario of going "completely socialist" is not likely to occur, but a balance between capitalism and socialism has always worked very well for the United States. We have enumerable socialist systems upon which we citizens rely: unemployment insurance, OSHA (worker safety), VA medical system, our military, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. Post Office, public schools, police and firefighters, public libraries, highways and roadways, tunnels and bridges, food and pharmaceutical safety (FDA), and so on. An entirely capitalist system, where all social programs or safety nets are done away with and for-profit (privatized) everything is the name of the game, GREED runs rampant through the system, as happens now with the 1300 for-profit insurance companies in the U.S., whose unregulated premiums have risen each year (cumulatively) at 3X the rate of inflation, while services have decreased---all greed-driven. Eventually, this all-capitalism approach implodes, as happened with Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and our credit markets, followed by the MELTDOWN of our greed-driven risk-taking financial system. Conversely, an entirely socialist system leads to stagnation and eventual decay (USSR, for example). The two systems play off of each other, which is another reason why President Obama and the Democrats join most Americans in pushing for the public option in health care reform---as a balancing factor for the out-of-control (capitalist all the way) insurance industry that has no checks and balances in place to keep it consumer-serving and consumer-friendly, functioning somewhat like the yin-yang duality of oneness.
14 :
God, I hope it never goes that bad.
