Socialism failed the test in one of America's Universities. A must read.

Quote from Scataphagos:

So... you're a Russian from the former USSR?

Please correct me if this is wrong, but my understanding is that before the fall of the empire, there was something like a FEW party uppers who had money and a good lifestyle, another echelon of party "middles" with a moderate lifestyle, and perhaps 90?% of the people who were no better off than lower class... standing in line for their ration of potatoes and toilet paper? All because the State confiscated nearly all of the empire's wealth to wage an arms battle with the USA?

Is that anywhere nearly correct?
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You are basically correct.

However, it was worse than you describe.

The few "party uppers" had a materially better lifestyle than the masses, but they lived in far more fear than the average Joe. These party uppers were routinely imprisoned and killed and they lived in fear of this all of their lives. That sort of discounts the material wealth for me.

The "party middles" are the <i>Nomenklatura</i> and they lived like kings - although still in deep fear of prison and death resulting from a fall out with someone more important in the party. But to put their material lifestyle into perspective....this <i>Nomenklatura</i> lived a lifestyle roughly comparable (reed: slightly below) the average American blue collar worker in the 1970's. And that represented material wealth well above the average Soviet citizen's.

The military industrial complex represented over 30% of GDP. However, does it really matter if the government confiscates wealth in favour of a "Green" complex rather than a military one? Wealth destruction is wealth destruction no matter what the specific boondogle that destroys wealth is.
 
Quote from Angrycat:

Yes, it's urban legend. But we did have a major experiment with this in the 20th century - the Soviet Union.

We ended up producing goods that were worth less than the materials that went into production of those goods and the whole country was living in shit. So, pretty much the same outcome as the urban legend - only worse because it was more than one class and it was real.
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Great point Angrycat. People see this failed experiment that was the USSR yet they still believe socialism can work. There will always be someone out there who thinks the way they do it will be different and successful, but the fact is it just doesn't work.
 
Quote from Martinghoul:


So, in summary, currently socialism = long-run economic underperformance and general malaise, while capitalism = extreme boom and bust. On balance, I would probably still go for the latter...
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Yes. Bailouts..bailouts...capitalism started using weapons that had been condemned...by capitalists!

Btw..socialism is not about giving equal credits.
 
Let’s pretend to have a conversation here. I’ll start it and you can finish it.

Me: Gee this is rediculous. The government is taking half my money to give it to all those lazy people.

You: That’s too bad. What do you do for a living?

Me: Well, I rob banks.

You: …………
 
Let’s pretend to have a conversation here. I’ll start it and you can finish it.

Me: Gee this is ridiculous. The government is taking half my money to give it to all those lazy people.

You: That’s too bad. What do you do for a living?

Me: Well, I rob banks.

You: Can you teach me?

Me:
 
Dude- you should totally move to Somalia. There's no Socialism, no pesky government intervention. They let free markets decide. I think you'd fit in well there. Good luck- thnxbai
 
Quote from ivanbaj:
Let’s pretend to have a conversation here. I’ll start it and you can finish it.

Me: Gee this is ridiculous. The government is taking half my money to give it to all those lazy people.

You: That’s too bad. What do you do for a living?

Me: Well, I rob banks.

You: Can you teach me?

Me:
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Me: Start by shipping thousands of jobs overseas. Then ship thousands of immigrants here "to do jobs Americans won't do." Then sell some health insurance and jack up the premium 15% every year. Then sell a bunch of other products that are crap so people have to keep buying more every time it breaks and you make more money. Then offer people a credit card. When they pay on time for 3 years straight, triple the interest rate to 24% for no reason and refuse to lower it back. Lastly privatize all of the profits and keep it for yourself. If that fails, get a bailout and pass the losses onto everybody you stole from in the first place and convince them that if you don't get a bailout, the whole system will collapse. Casually forget to mention that your’re actually the only one who benefits from the current system not collapsing anyways.
 
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