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Why should you try something that has always failed... Communism has killed more people then both WW1 and WW2 combined. It has caused poverty for tens of millions. Even in China today, over 90% of the population live in poverty...
Get real...
China was one of the first capitalist countries. Its an emerging country all right. Its emerging from the endless cycles of capitalism. The existence of Marxism is proof of capitalism's failure. When you have money and laws, you have what is essentially capitalism. Its been around for thousands of years and It always fails. Why do we keep trying that?
The US was successful because at no time in recent history was there so much free land. Thus the Ricardian land rent principle was long delayed.
When in the progress of society, land of the second degree of fertility is taken into cultivation, rent immediately commences on that of the first quality, and the amount of that rent will depend on the difference in the quality of these two portions of land. 2.5
When land of the third quality is taken into cultivation, rent immediately commences on the second, and it is regulated as before, by the difference in their productive powers. At the same time, the rent of the first quality will rise, for that must always be above the rent of the second, by the difference between the produce which they yield with a given quantity of capital and labour. With every step in the progress of population, which shall oblige a country to have recourse to land of a worse quality, to enable it to raise its supply of food, rent, on all the more fertile land, will rise.
In other words when more land went into cultivation, the owners of the best land had free wealth aka make money in their sleep.
A land-tax, levied in proportion to the rent of land, and varying with every variation of rent, is in effect a tax on rent; and as such a tax will not apply to that land which yields no rent, nor to the produce of that capital which is employed on the land with a view to profit merely, and which never pays rent, it will not in any way affect the price of raw produce, but will fall wholly on the landlords. In no respect would such a tax differ from a tax on rent. But if a land-tax be imposed on all cultivated land, however moderate that tax may be, it will be a tax on produce, and will therefore raise the price of produce.
-Ricardo
The underline portion is why you use tax discrimination on valuable land. The latter portion is why you don't use VAT. VAT is idiotic beyond all comprehension. The Ricardian principle applies not just to the fertility of the land , but its marginal utility which is vast to say the least.
The "conservatives" like to pretend they are such brilliant economists by making the observation that all taxes are passed on to the consumer. They usually do it with arrogance. Ignorance and arrogance, what a combo. Problem is its not true and its been known for hundreds of years.
Anyone see the horror of that implication? The set price on a product will be that of the lowest land utility meaning the better situated land will never be reflected in the price of a product. The price of a product will always be the minimum requirements to make in the poorest because the good locations will just go to fat cats. Thus by the consumer point of view all production is as if it were made on worthless land. The value of the land is not passed on to the consumer.
This is silly to call North Korea whatever you want and rationalize it away with the silly phrases like state capitalism which I have heard my whole life by communist apologists who can't accept the failure of their ideology. I take North Koreans word for it. They call themselves communist. They are ruled by one party, the communist party. They are communists.
Last edited by kanhawk; 08-15-2012 at 07:50 PM..
Reason: take out personal references
This is silly to call North Korea whatever you want and rationalize it away with the silly phrases like state capitalism which I have heard my whole life by communist apologists who can't accept the failure of their ideology. I take North Koreans word for it. They call themselves communist. They are ruled by one party, the communist party. They are communists.
Oh that's nice. Do you take China's word for it too that is soon going to be the largest economy in the world? They are a "communist country". Meanwhile its "capitalism" failing.
Did you ever notice that regimes friendly to the US that were dictatorships functioned in much the same way and called themselves market systems. I didn't take their word for it either. Its a command economy which is socialism. If you think North Korea is communist then you don't know what it is. If I am wrong please cite your source.
These are the 10 planks of Marxism
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents
of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means
of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive
monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport
in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by
the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and
the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a
common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of
industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries;
gradual abolition of the distinction between town and
country, by a more equable distribution of the population
over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools.
Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form.
Combination of education with industrial production, &c., &c.
Much of it actually describes the US. The reason is because capitalism is failing. How can we be 75% on the way to Marxism and call it a failure?
One thing that is missing is the idea that every product is planned by the state.
A system where the government, rather than the free market, determines what goods should be produced, how much should be produced and the price at which the goods will be offered for sale. The command economy is a key feature of any communist society. China, Cuba, North Korea and the former Soviet Union are examples of countries that have command economies.
I don't see any obvious place for command economy in the 10 planks. I also see that dictatorships do just fine without being "communist". China is even more of a joke now in this regard. If China is communist, why are they growing their economy while we are sagging?
. I take North Koreans word for it. They call themselves communist. They are ruled by one party, the communist party. They are communists.
No they don't. They call themselves "Democratic People's Republic of Korea". They call themselves Democratic. Taking their word for it?
North Korea is an autocratic tyranny that violates every definition of Communism and Democratic alike. The fearless leader simply takes everything according to his own personal whims, and redistributes the wealth however and to whomever he pleases, just like all other despots did for millennia before Marx was even born.
The Kim regimes in NK are no more representational of communism, than the Idi Amin regime in Uganda was of free market capitalism.
This is silly to call North Korea whatever you want and rationalize it away with the silly phrases like state capitalism which I have heard my whole life by communist apologists who can't accept the failure of their ideology. I take North Koreans word for it. They call themselves communist. They are ruled by one party, the communist party. They are communists.
North Korea also claims that Kim Jong-il's birth was marked by a double rainbow and a talking iceberg.
Has anyone here actually read the Communist Manifesto?
You don't actually expect anyone to study something to go along with their opinions do you? When people order a muffin, they press the muffin icon. Who reads?
Sorry folks. We are decaying into Maxism which is a failure of capitalism. People are dumped on the street and they come begging for help from da guberment. The help will come in the form of the 10 planks. It was the early progressive movement that tried to do something about it to essentially preserve capitalism from its Marxist fate.
Capitalism works great when the markets are free and when the land is free for productive use. If not, it will decay into Marxism, oligarchy, and malaise.
This is silly to call North Korea whatever you want and rationalize it away with the silly phrases like state capitalism which I have heard my whole life by communist apologists who can't accept the failure of their ideology. I take North Koreans word for it. They call themselves communist. They are ruled by one party, the communist party. They are communists.
Well, just because you do not understand the meaning of terms, and are not educated in the subject, does not make things like "state capitalism" a silly phrase, and does not make NK a communist society. NK calls themselves all kinds of things, does not make it true.
Has anyone here actually read the Communist Manifesto?
Yes, that is why my first post on this thread was an attempt to clarify what the OP was referring to.
It is obvious from from the responses that many people have not read it.
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