Updated Comments on Socialism - 2026 - Robust...
I love studying this stuff and I think it is important to human survival. For me it is easy and natural, but really, for most people it is far less clear. So I have occasionally gotten into discussions by email or forum where someone asked my to explain. It is a great opportunity for me to develop my descriptions and to find out what others have trouble understanding abut the topic. I usually have good luck explaining what they want to know. So here is one of those discussions. Maybe it will clarify things for you as well. This was a very long email correspondence with a friend. I greatly appreciated his patience and help creating this description.
As the discussion says, this one is unusual for me as it is about Socialism, but it fits. It is a strategy and also it relates to automation, something very concerning to me. This discussion involved two people, one smarter than the other.
I will have to check it out. Socialism and politics aren't so much my subject so I'm still looking for information about it. THe trouble is that our system looks like a disaster waiting to happen and automation which I do pay attention to is somthing that I am very concerned with. The jobs that people claim are being offshored are really going mostly to automation. I see automation exploding. Something else I see Mel is that you and I are doing well enough financially, but we're both well paid. I'm seeing sign after sign that middle class jobs are not paying a living wage...living is what I study. So the video was very interesting. I'll comment on it below, but per your mention of Cuba, it was never a Socialism. It, like the Soviet Union would have been been far better described as a gangsterism, which in political terms we've been calling authoritarianism. (He mentioned this name game in the video - point 4, but ignored it in another part of the video- point 1.) Also, the Soviets, coming from a monarchy, didn't understand at all where markets let alone capitalism belonged in a socialist economy. That is my second point. Capitalism like Socialism, is given many meanings, but all societies and economies must use capital as a tool of productivity, sometimes known as investment. What we are calling Capitalism in America is a system of ownership and economic policy, something importantly different than capital investment. Now I'm not concerned too much which system we use. I'm about human survival. I posted the video about Socialism, because it seems many of my freinds (and relatives), such as Candy above, seem to be constantly regurgitating contentless responses to every political topic. I figured I'd offer some content. The question is, what is necessary for human survival? Sure: food, clothing and shelter, but in a modern society I thnk that includes education, medical care, leisure and retirement. How do you provide that? Unfortunately American Capitalism is failing at that. The middle class is shrinking, many of the young are disengaged from the economy and society because they don't see it serving them, many are mired in debt and some people are even forgoeing having children as being unaffordable. That is where I ahve a problem. The thing about "invome inequality" is it reminds one of the worst failures of American Capitalism, the great Depression. This country was founded on many things, but especially escapre from a hereditary (military based ) aristocracy that had only their interests in mind instead of We The PEople - why the Constitution started with those words. Is American Capitalism leading to an aristocracy of wealth to replace that monarchy? (Citizen's United is definately an abomination in American Democracy.) So, about the video... I analyzed it like I do technical videos... I take notes. ... Oh, Candy put up a video critiquing Socialism as well. Let me see that first. I guess I should mention that in my opinion, Socialism is so many things, I don't know where to start. Centraly planned economy and state ownership are theoretically the main features of it. What I'm looking for that tends to be called Socialism by some people relates to education, medical care and retirement, three of the things I mentioned above where it seems inappropriate to make the citizen a profit center. By the way, I like the Post Office too and to soem people, that is Socialism. To some people - "We The People" is Socialism. 1. Democratic Socialism vs Socialism - No, they define socialism as authoritism 2. Profit motive is important. 3. Canada has Socialized Medicine. Canada is not a Socialist Country. 4. He mentioned North Korea which calls itself a Republic. Get rid of heirchies - yep, dumb. 5. Socialism is more moral. ... but then he gives Soloman's solution which was an example of a stupid solution 3500 years ago. Fairness is about consequences. - Huh? Charity??? Needs, - he goes back to what he said was an absurdidty at the start of the video Socialism discriminates against the wealthy. Income inequality - why should we care? Are you suffering? It's not the poor they are stealing from, it's everyone. Socialism hasn't been tried... -Actually it has been tried such as in Germany and the Nordic Countries. ... Norway...Market, not planned economy... Redistributeall the gains - no incentive... Cultural homegenity. Socialist Paradise...??? ... Can't extrapolate to larer ystem... They are not bringing in immigrants for labor. It's about refugees. 6. Socialism works in Medicine. American Medicine is regulated. No transparency in Insurance... So he says it is not a market system. He's wrong, many systems like to hide their prices. It's about insurance. He's lying about syas it was for getting around wage control. Individual mandate /// So what to do about America... It is largely a free market system. The rich come to Amerrica for Medical. We don't bargain. ... but it's unaffordable. Many other countries do do medical research. 7. Capitalism is a failure. Is it capitalism or science. Candy ... Bad ideas... Lead paint, aspestos, It's not about my decisions I worry about. It's about the folks with so much money that they can buy my government. ... Athoritarianism... Not fair. They were starving...not down on their luck State ownership... no competition... You can't develop science and technology? Bullshit. Mankind vs individual.... Huh? Authoritarianism. He even says they are murderous dictators.
Come on Mel, even the guy in the video said you can call yourself what you want... North Korea calls itself a Republic. I posted the link as a description of Socialism because I kept seeing posts about Socialism that were basically mindless. I'm working through some thoughts, the way I do, by writing. I'll get back to you when I finish my analysis. I will make a couple points now though. I'm not that interested in Socialism... say government ownership and centralized planned economy. I do think education should be very highly supported because it is an investment in people and the country ... instead of students being considered a profit center. We need some form of "socialized medicine" as most developed countries have. Our system, which I am part of, is a haphazard disaster (the video, by the way, was very incorrect) Socialism has always been a failure. Well, I could say Soviet Socialism such as Cuba had, was just authoritarianism, but there is more to it. It was an experiment in Socialism and it was a failure, but American Democracy was an experiment as well at about the same time and it risks being a failure too, for the same reason. The only political model they had was of Kings and Czars, though American had the Greek and Iroquois democracies for models as well. What! American Democracy a failure you say! Yes, the winner takes all Presidential form of government leads to gridlock and an imperial Presidency as we have now. This is known and why we gave a Parliamentary system of Democracy to Japan, Germany, and Italy after WWII. Sort of Democracy 1.0 verses 2.0. (The problem of being a leader. You get to make the mistakes others learn from.) Soviet Socialism was Socialism 1.0. Other countries are experimenting with Socialism 2.0. (Need to mention that there are other incentives than profit. Money does not lead to creativity. There are many people that want to benefit society, but only activities that make money are supported in this system. That imbalance is destructive. I have to flesh that out some) Now being a biologist, I have to look at it that way and I see a nasty Social Darwinism in America. And as naturally happens, the predators grow stronger until they consume their prey. Nothing is stopping them. We are heading towards a dysfunctional society. this is partly a moral issue and so needs a longer discussion, but we are facing a disaster that is moral at its root. Now finally, it's not so much about Socialism. Why is anyone even asking about Socialism? Because American Capitalism is failing We The People. Oh, not me, not you, not even our children, but actually it is failing most people. Debt is soaring because the necessities of life are barely affordable and the costs are rising while spending power is dropping. The young are disengaged because their education was unaffordable and they do not see housing as affordable. Couples are foregoing children because they cannot be afforded. They see the environment that is their life support system, being destroyed for quarterly profits. All economic gain is going to a tiny group while the middle class loses ground. Investment is being squandered. It is obvious to the millennials that the system isn't going to work for them. They are just profit centers. I don't want a revolution. That is bad for everyone, but the system is not working. I'll leave with this article that describes how bad of an economic and moral failure our system is and why people are interested in Socialism. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../financial-crisis-10...