Obama Has no Capital in Socialism
Obama has lately been compared to a socialist by John McCain in order to frighten people. Relatively speaking, on the numbers, this would make Ronald Reagan a socialist as well. How could I proclaim that so boldly? Well, the McCain campaign has attacked Obama on the socialist front in a few ways. One of which is taxes. On the numbers, Obama's planned rates would mirror those we had in the 80s. So, was America socialist in the 80s and before?
It's all a red herring because the word, socialism, contains as many variations as democracy. Politicians use the word to strike fear because socialism is only one step away from communism in political kindergarten.
Economically speaking, this is where the rubber meets the road. Essentially, you need to ask yourself what matters most to you: efficiency, or equality? I merely ask that however anyone responds to that question, that they do so honestly. That is to say, if efficiency matters to you most, please do not complain about the poor to me.
Bringing up the word “socialist” is for fear purposes only. As IOZ exclaims from time to time: follow the money. Large businesses have as much concern in maintaining our current structure as anyone else would. Honestly, I mean that. Ask yourself, who controls the capital in capitalism? Large businesses are not going anywhere. And as our recent conversation shows, it is in all politicians interests to maintain the status quo of our economy. That's why, even George W. Bush himself, has allowed for the injection of capital into the markets from our government. If John McCain really wants to address socialism, then maybe he should ask himself how he feels about our current handling of the economy.
Undoubtedly we are going to hear about socialistic healthcare. If that's your fear, then you should live in fear at all times because every other industrialized nation has socialized healthcare.
I would surmise that it's all relative. People don't want to feel like money is being taken away from them. That said, I just hope I can all still afford healthcare in ten years time. The fact that I need to depend on someone else (my employer) to make healthcare affordable is frightening. Healthcare should be easily purchasable to everyone, but because of the free rider problem, costs won't go down. In my opinion, if the ideal is to have people not go bankrupt when they go to the hospital, then we currently have a market failure. And as I've written before, market failure has government intervention written all over it. But McCain says that's socialism.
If anyone were to criticize Obama, they should do so on policy grounds. As Greg Mankiw shows us here, Obama's plan is messy, and taxes people anyway, even if they buy health insurance on their own. What I don't understand is how we can mandate car insurance on people who register their vehicles, but not mandate that people have health insurance. Sure, nobody has to have to have a car, but by that logic, I don't have to go to the doctor, or the hospital. So, why is it that when I get shot or in a car accident, I get taken to a hospital?
Here's the thing. What are we afraid of? And here's a better question. Who here honestly thinks that socialism will penetrate and take hold here? If I know my own country's jingoistic tendencies, it's that if something gets labeled socialism pretty well, it'll reject it. Let's see how good McCain is at doing that.
It's all a red herring because the word, socialism, contains as many variations as democracy. Politicians use the word to strike fear because socialism is only one step away from communism in political kindergarten.
Economically speaking, this is where the rubber meets the road. Essentially, you need to ask yourself what matters most to you: efficiency, or equality? I merely ask that however anyone responds to that question, that they do so honestly. That is to say, if efficiency matters to you most, please do not complain about the poor to me.
Bringing up the word “socialist” is for fear purposes only. As IOZ exclaims from time to time: follow the money. Large businesses have as much concern in maintaining our current structure as anyone else would. Honestly, I mean that. Ask yourself, who controls the capital in capitalism? Large businesses are not going anywhere. And as our recent conversation shows, it is in all politicians interests to maintain the status quo of our economy. That's why, even George W. Bush himself, has allowed for the injection of capital into the markets from our government. If John McCain really wants to address socialism, then maybe he should ask himself how he feels about our current handling of the economy.
Undoubtedly we are going to hear about socialistic healthcare. If that's your fear, then you should live in fear at all times because every other industrialized nation has socialized healthcare.
I would surmise that it's all relative. People don't want to feel like money is being taken away from them. That said, I just hope I can all still afford healthcare in ten years time. The fact that I need to depend on someone else (my employer) to make healthcare affordable is frightening. Healthcare should be easily purchasable to everyone, but because of the free rider problem, costs won't go down. In my opinion, if the ideal is to have people not go bankrupt when they go to the hospital, then we currently have a market failure. And as I've written before, market failure has government intervention written all over it. But McCain says that's socialism.
If anyone were to criticize Obama, they should do so on policy grounds. As Greg Mankiw shows us here, Obama's plan is messy, and taxes people anyway, even if they buy health insurance on their own. What I don't understand is how we can mandate car insurance on people who register their vehicles, but not mandate that people have health insurance. Sure, nobody has to have to have a car, but by that logic, I don't have to go to the doctor, or the hospital. So, why is it that when I get shot or in a car accident, I get taken to a hospital?
Here's the thing. What are we afraid of? And here's a better question. Who here honestly thinks that socialism will penetrate and take hold here? If I know my own country's jingoistic tendencies, it's that if something gets labeled socialism pretty well, it'll reject it. Let's see how good McCain is at doing that.
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