//

Our Socialist Future

After the multitude of recent apocalypse-level meltdowns on Wall Street, followed by the subsequent bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and then AIG shortly thereafter, it seems our Democracy has found itself desperately wanting for some reliable economic expertise and guidance. Suddenly, as the government is “forced” to wave it’s magic wand and single-handedly usher in the largest socialization of private interests since The Great Depression, it seems high time Americans take a good, hard look at our core economic values. It’s time to stop assuming “the professionals” know what they are doing, and to begin evaluating the situation on our own.

For at least 30 years, Republicans and Democrats have drawn their economic lines-in-the-sand according to some pretty basic differences: Republicans have espoused a belief that freeing up businesses through market deregulation and lower taxes, will lead to more efficient markets, and in turn, a more profitable and successful economy. Democrats, long-branded as big fans of social programs and high taxes, have largely failed to present a compelling alternative to this argument.

Today, it appears, we stand at the brink of an entirely new brand of economy. After years of Republican-backed deregulation efforts, which have no-doubt marked many successes, we now seem unwilling to fully trust the principles which make up the core of our economy. The current brand of corporate bailouts ostensibly amounts to allowing businesses the luxury of privatizing their profits, while simultaneously socializing the risk. To even the casual economist, this should serve as an indictment of free market theory, at least so far as we seem willing to put such principles into practice. Furthermore, this sounds NOTHING like the economic principles by which Republicans have claimed to stand, and after last week, there is certainly no shortage of Republicans and Libertarians who would be more-than-willing to agree with that assessment.

Given the above, it bears consideration that if one studies a little history, it’s easy to conclude that since the rise of the nation state, socialism has been a bit of an inevitability. This isn’t to say such a fate is necessarily good or bad, but clearly as our own country has advanced, we have identified numerous ways in which we saw fit to employ some rather socialist programs in an effort to protect those who we deemed unable to protect themselves. So now we have Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, a nationwide system of public schools, and then on statewide and municipal levels, the list continues. In sum, for a country so committed to commerce and the free market, we’re looking more and more like a Socialist country every day. And what’s wrong with that? Well, what’s wrong is that it isn’t doing us any damn good.

America suffers from an identity crisis: As we become more like a Socialist country, our inability to admit as much and find solutions appropriate to our problems, makes us worse off. Not only are we not a true free-market economy, but we’re not a true Socialist country either. Meanwhile, in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark — true bastions of Socialist principles to be sure — we find they surpass us in numerous virtues such as education, health, public generosity, per capita aid to the developing world, and low rates of violent crime and infant mortality, just to name a few. 

The net result of this identity crisis doesn’t appear to benefit the “Average American” by any metric. Though this shouldn’t be construed as an endorsement of Socialist ideology, I will admit to being generally at a loss to explain how, exactly, we have it better off than them. I’m no longer so sure that our system is the better one. And at the very least, I think we might have a bit of an irrational fear of Socialism that, in the face of recent events, isn’t entirely supported by the facts at hand.

[ Topic Politics, Politics, Etc. | 1 Comment ]

Someone Needs a Better Mouthpiece

For all the shots that get aimed justifiably at the press, every once in a while there’s a glint of hope. Here’s one of those rare (and AWESOME) occasions where a reporter hangs on for the ride in pursuit of a straight answer to her question. Kudos to you big-hoop-earring lady.

[ADDENDUM]: It appears the McCain camp cancelled a long-scheduled McCain interview on Larry King because of the above “ill treatment” of their representative. Ha ha ha.

[ Topic Ridiculosity | 2 Comments ]