Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Venezuela is a fine example of how socialism works.
Mixed economies are the most successful. Pure capitalism leaves the masses behind in an Oliver Twist existence where most have little and a few have much.
Income in the United States is more unequally distributed than in most other advanced countries because, as Janet Gornick and Branko Milanovic of the CUNY Graduate Center's Luxembourg Income Study Center state, the amount of redistribution determines inequality.
As such, countries that are "less socialist" have high income inequality while the opposite is true in countries that redistribute income. more. This is evident using the Gini Index.
Thus, socialism is certainly working in Scandinavia.
No socio-economic construct is eternally viable. Socialist democracies seem to work better than most, and people who live in such places are happiest and most satisfied according to various polls.
Communism doesn't appear to be very sustainable--mainly due to the human capacity for corruption, greed and hunger for power (could say the same for capitalism.)
Capitalism ends up being essentially a pyramid scheme, as anyone with eyes should be able to see, though I still consider it preferable to communism, in practice at least, if not in theory.
None of these things will function indefinitely. The Law of Entropy applies equally to nations, societies, culture and civilization just as it does for machines and living organisms. Everything falls apart.
Denmark is good for business The average Dane has a household debt equal to 310% of his disposable income, one of the highest for personal debt in the world, if not the highest. The average American household debt is considerably lower at 114%.
I'd need to study more the countries of Denmark, Norway & Sweden that Bernie Sanders thinks we should more or less copy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nep321
With all this Occupy Wall Street protesting going on, it seems that these people are advocating a more socialist government. But, has socialism ever worked over the long term, to the point that it would be better than capitalist U.S. policy? Can someone give me examples of successful socialist countries that have lasted for the LONG TERM and/or will likely last for the LONG TERM? Should the U.S. envy other socialist countries? Does it really work better as these Occupy Wall Street people believe it would? Honestly, it seems like the Tea Party of the left.
There's about 7 or 8 socialist political parties. That means they all differ on one or more points as to what they are for or against. Socialists are anything but united in US. You can read up on Political parties in US on a few different sites. Wikipedia is pretty unbiased, as are most voter guides, like votesmart dot org/
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicet4
Just because socialism has caused the murder of 100 million people and has never worked throughout history is no reason not to try it again.
According to the 2015 Cato Human Freedom Index that assesses economic, civil and personal freedom, the United States is the 20th most free country in the world. It is outranked by several nations that Americans consider to be more "socialist".
Incorporating a greater share of socialism into the U.S. system will not bring about communism. However, Americans have been indoctrinated with that belief for decades. Culturally, Americans are conditioned to mindlessly defend crony capitalism.
The sad part is, people don't even realize it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
