Preposterous and indefensible. I live in a "socialist" country and nobody's putting a gun to my head, metaphorically or realistically. We're smarter than that.
I pay taxes willingly, given the benefits that accrue TO ME as a result. Would you prefer a for-profit system for, say, the fire department? The police? Or gawd help us, the prison system? How about libraries? Do you really think that in the current capitalism-at-all-costs climate that anyone could countenance public libraries? Piracy! Copy protection! You're stealing my work! Ask Schewe what he thinks about public libraries letting people use his work for free.
Alan, it's not an all-or-nothing thing. There are degrees, shadings, subtleties. Kinda like midtones.
A clever blend of capitalism and socialism is what gave Norway their trillion dollar bank account and health care for everyone and superb highways relatively devoid of potholes, unlike some other countries I've driven in.
First Norway, they have all that money because they have the good fortune to be sitting on trillions of dollars in oil in the North Sea. Socialism did not give them that wealth. Neither did Capitalism. They found the goose that laid the golden egg.
Second, I never said there was no place for government. You're right, it's a matter of degree. Maybe you don't realize it, but America spends 36.5% of its GDP on government expenditures: federal, state and local. That's $7 trillion dollars out of $17 trillion. A huge amount, most of it, is for social programs. We're already a socialist country.
Here's the breakout: Governments at all levels, federal, state, and local, spend about $1.3 trillion a year on pensions, including Social Security and government employee pensions. Governments spend about $1.6 trillion a year on health care, principally Medicare and Medicaid. Governments spend about $1.1 trillion a year on education at all levels, principally at the local government level. The federal government spends about $0.9 trillion a year on defense, including the Departments of Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs. Governments spend $0.5 trillion on welfare programs other than Medicaid. All other spending amounts to $1.8 trillion, including interest on the national debt. The grand total of all the spending is $7.0 trillion, most for social programs.
The portrayal of America like some Ebenezer Scrooge passing out pennies to its Cratchit citizens is just untrue. The problem is we can't afford any more. We're spending $600 billion extra this year over our budget with borrowed and printed money. We're $20 trillion in debt. Both democrats and republicans are fearful of even touching these social welfare programs. They want to get re-elected.
We're at the crossroads. If citizens continue to demand more things like "free" medical care, we're going to hit a wall that destroys the country's wealth. People will demand we cut back on our foreign adventures, reduce the military, leave NATO for the locals to handle. Even Democrat and Liberals will be that we insist on America First.
