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The only real difference between us and Sweden is their government spends their tax dollars on their people, we spend them on special interests, warfare, etc. We can do free college tuition and it'd be a rounding error. We can do a single payer health insurance and it can be cheaper (we spend twice as much as the rest of the modern world, and have a highly inefficient system).
Last year we took in more tax dollars per person than ever... The money is there, it's just being wasted.
Just like you don't understand how to interpret that data.
Dumb? No. Lazy? Yes. He's not known for actually accomplishing much during his time in government.
I can make it even simpler:
Socialism is a governing policy.
Capitalism is an economic policy.
You can have both.
You can have one or the other.
You can have neither.
Having one doesn't mean you can't have the other.
The only real difference between us and Sweden is their government spends their tax dollars on their people, we spend them on special interests, warfare, etc. We can do free college tuition and it'd be a rounding error. We can do a single payer health insurance and it can be cheaper (we spend twice as much as the rest of the modern world, and have a highly inefficient system).
Last year we took in more tax dollars per person than ever... The money is there, it's just being wasted.
People like Bernie won't change that. The guy has spent much of his life in office and hasn't accomplished much and there's reason why that have to do with him as an individual (pretty similar to trump's personality faults, not the same one's, but issues that make you a bad leader), but that's another day.
Tucker Carlson who is Swedish said Swedes have no sense of humor. He was referencing the story of some Swedish environmentalist who said cannibalism is the wave of the future and we shouldn't be squeamish. We should ease into it by eating our pets.
Tucker Carlson who is Swedish said Swedes have no sense of humor. He was referencing the story of some Swedish environmentalist who said cannibalism is the wave of the future and we shouldn't be squeamish. We should ease into it by eating our pets.
Just like you don't understand how to interpret that data.
Dumb? No. Lazy? Yes. He's not known for actually accomplishing much during his time in government.
I can make it even simpler:
Socialism is a governing policy.
Capitalism is an economic policy.
You can have both.
You can have one or the other.
You can have neither.
If you accept the definition of 'socialism' as "collective (in practice, gov't) ownership of the means of production, it is clearly both an economic and political model. The political aspect can take different forms, such as 'democratic socialism' (e.g. Venezuela under Chavez) or autocratic socialism (Cuba), but in either case the gov't assumes ownership of the means of production.
As far capitalism, it is tricky to define, and maybe a topic for another thread. But from post #1 we should be able to all agree that Sweden is capitalist.
Quote:
The only real difference between us and Sweden is their government spends their tax dollars on their people, we spend them on special interests, warfare, etc. We can do free college tuition and it'd be a rounding error. We can do a single payer health insurance and it can be cheaper (we spend twice as much as the rest of the modern world, and have a highly inefficient system).
I can generally agree with this. The countries that are social democracies such as Sweden and Canada have higher taxes than we do (albeit really not all that much higher) but they get much better bang for their buck than we do in the US.
In some ways Sweden is to the right of the US. They have school vouchers, generally considered a far-right program in US political discourse. They have some health care vouchers, and partially privatized pensions (equivalent of our social security).
People like Bernie won't change that. The guy has spent much of his life in office and hasn't accomplished much and there's reason why that have to do with him as an individual (pretty similar to trump's personality faults, not the same one's, but issues that make you a bad leader), but that's another day.
The average D US Senator paid out $2,740,000 in staffer salaries (number is from 2012, doubtless even higher now). So Bernie has 2.7 million/yr worth of brain power on staff, probably including an econ Phd or two, and a poli sci PhD or two.
One of them could have corrected him the first time he made the error, and he could have never made the error again. But that hasn't happened. He makes the error over and over. The Danish Prime Minister even chided him over it.
This makes me suspect that something else is going on here. Namely, that Bernie is a true believer socialist, but knows that is a tough sell in US politics, hence the deliberate conflation.
The average D US Senator paid out $2,740,000 in staffer salaries (number is from 2012, doubtless even higher now). So Bernie has 2.7 million/yr worth of brain power on staff, probably including an econ Phd or two, and a poli sci PhD or two.
One of them could have corrected him the first time he made the error, and he could have never made the error again. But that hasn't happened. He makes the error over and over. The Danish Prime Minister even chided him over it.
This makes me suspect that something else is going on here. Namely, that Bernie is a true believer socialist, but knows that is a tough sell in US politics, hence the deliberate conflation.
The actual topic of this thread is "Bernie deliberately obfuscates his true devotion to actual Cuban-style socialism." Do you enjoy going around in circles for a bit before getting to the meat of things?
The actual topic of this thread is "Bernie deliberately obfuscates his true devotion to actual Cuban-style socialism." Do you enjoy going around in circles for a bit before getting to the meat of things?
No the topic is whether Sweden is a socialist nation. But post #1 was so devastatingly dispositive that nobody even tried to challenge it
I definitely don't enjoy going in circles, but that's what happens when you've got 2 or 3 posters in deep denial that Bernie is what he says he is, namely a "democratic socialist."
It's a pretty important matter when we're looking at the possibility of electing a US president who is an avowed socialist. He's #3 or 4 currently in the prez sweepstakes.
European countries are social democracies, mixed economies
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