[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism

[Richard Loosemore]

Kelly Anderson wrote:
> On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 1:11 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I haven't noticed much Socialism in the US.
> 
> Really? That's pretty funny.

I'm puzzled as to why you find it funny.  I have lived on both 
continents, and I can assure you that BillK is just saying something 
that is considered common knowlege in the rest of the world (i.e. the 
fact that there is almost no socialism in the U.S.).  The only group of 
people who find this difficult to understand are U.S. right wingers.

I would guess that roughly 70% of all Democrat politicians in the U.S. 
would could as significantly right of center in most European countries.

Also, the word "socialism" has completely different meanings on the two 
sides of the Atlantic.  In the U.S. it is roughly equivalent to the 
meaning of "soviet communism" in Europe.  The term "socialism", in 
Europe, means something like "believing that government has the 
responsibility to look after the interests of the weaker members of 
society".



>> >From a European POV the so-called US lefties are considered to be
>> rabid right wingers.   ;)
> 
> I can't help that most European countries are more rapidly suicidal
> than America.

Content-free comment, I assume.


>> My view is that unregulated corporatism has bought up the government
>> and looted the US economy.
> 
> One of the bigger problems with the US right now is that the corporate
> tax rate is so high that they don't collect many of the taxes to which
> they are properly due. This is because they drive the corporations
> overseas. It is a big problem.

Factually incorrect.  The corporate tax rate is a meaningless number 
because there are so many tax breaks specially designed to get around 
it, that most corporations actually pay an amount of tax that is far 
less than the rate that middle class American individuals pay.

The tax rate does not drive companies overseas, corporate greed drives 
companies overseas.

>> The problem with creating a wealth pyramid where the top .1% own
>> almost everything is that when wealth is so concentrated, the consumer
>> economy game stops.
> 
> Bill, what country in the history of the world most closely
> approximates your view of economic utopia?
> 
> For me, it's pretty easy.. American or England in 1800... Of course my
> utopia would not have slavery.

At that time, children of poor families were sent down mines at the age 
of 8 or 9 years, to work for 12-18 hours a day.  Or sent into factories 
for the same hours.  Your parentetical remark "...Of course my utopia 
would not have slavery" is just funny in spades, since without the child 
labor, the servants and the slaves, that period would not have been a 
utopia for the rich.

The fact that you would quote that period as an economic utopia speaks 
volumes about your knowledge of history and ability to apply that 
knowledge to real world systems.



Richard Loosemore