11–19 of 19 posts
Capitalism isn't necessarily about rewarding people that are "better".
It's about rewarding people that are productive in the ways in which other people value.
It rewards people for making stuff other people want. It's about rewarding me more for learning an in-demand trade than for skateboarding all day.
Americans, through blatant ignorance and misuse of the term over the last few years (on both sides of the political aisle), you've ALL forfeited the right to use the world "socialism" until such time as you can prove you actually know what the word means and can use it properly.
Sorry, but it's a fair cop. Social services != socialism. Socialism is the government control of production, and it's largely dead outside of Cuba and North Korea.
Nope, not necessarily. There are many definitions of socialism, and lots of movements defined as socialists. Many of them don't involve State control of production, eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism
I don't think the author understands that state socialism implies coercive sharing, not voluntary resource pooling.
[1]I'm equally free to leave both my rental contract (upon expiry) and the UK tax regime for cheaper/better alternatives. In the absence of the government "coercively" imposing rule of law backed by social norms I would not only be free from the government redirecting a proportion of my pay packet to other causes, but also from any incentive whatsoever to divert a similarly large proportion of my income to be able to live in a property the overseas-based owner has quite possibly never even visited.
I'll never forget her response to this very type of attack which you can see at the 8:15 mark of this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6jkQKAv13A
Thought experiment: How many able-bodied people are there in NYC? Let's say 2 million. If each of them had shoveled snow for 15 minutes with a snow shovel (working in shifts, let's say, as there are not 2 million snow shovels) just in the area they personally were affected by, how effective would that have been vs. what happened?
It sounds good until you ask 'where are they going to put all that snow'? Can't put it on the sidewalks, cars are parked on the sides of the roads. The process of getting rid of that much snow in NYC involves industrial snow melting machines, the sewer system, the rivers, and coordination of trucks. Not so simple as getting together and shovelling out.
John Stewart on the Rachel Maddow Show.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908//vp/40141311#40141311
Worth thinking about?
I don't think the author understands that state socialism implies coercive sharing, not voluntary resource pooling.
However, like it or not, we are born into a social contract. Those who want opt-out of that social contract are a bit like the child who, when faced with family responsibilities states: "I didn't ask to be born!"
Parent's response: "Sorry, thems the breaks kid, now go look after your brother and finish your chores."
While I enjoyed the Ayn Rand books I've read, I think it's a little naive to expect any large society to work on a strictly opt-in basis.
Thought experiment: How many able-bodied people are there in NYC? Let's say 2 million. If each of them had shoveled snow for 15 minutes with a snow shovel (working in shifts, let's say, as there are not 2 million snow shovels) just in the area they personally were affected by, how effective would that have been vs. what happened?
It sounds good until you ask 'where are they going to put all that snow'? Can't put it on the sidewalks, cars are parked on the sides of the roads. The process of getting rid of that much snow in NYC involves industrial snow melting machines, the sewer system, the rivers, and coordination of trucks. Not so simple as getting together and shovelling out.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, but it's a fair cop. Social services != socialism. Socialism is the government control of production, and it's largely dead outside of Cuba and North Korea.
Socialism is the government control of production, and it's largely dead outside of Cuba and North Korea. Nope, not necessarily. There are many definitions of socialism, and lots of movements defined as socialists. Many of them don't involve State control of production, eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism