[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism
Richard Loosemore
rpwl at lightlink.com
Tue May 17 11:49:28 UTC 2011
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
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