The benefits of socialism

Mountainmanbob said:

https://www.real.video/5834961975001

I thought she believed in spreading her money around? Could have given a lot of meals to the poor.

My wife is a very classy dresser and finds outfits at the Dress Barn that look as nice as that one and she only spends a couple hundred dollars (at the most) on them.

Seems many politicians end up spending more than they make. Could be one of the many roads to corruption?
M-Bob

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The neat thing about socialism is that we don't have to work anymore. Money magically appears to pay all our bills.

from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/062315/unemployment-rates-country.asp
As for the world's largest economies, here's a look at their lowest unemployment rates in 2017 (listed by country GDP):

United States: 4.1%
China: 3.95%
Japan: 2.7%
Germany: 3.6%
France: 9.5%
United Kingdom: 4.3%
India: 3.6%
Brazil: 11.8%
Italy: 10.8%
Canada: 5.8%

We all know the US stops counting you as 'unemployed' after the benefits run out, or if you end up becoming underemployed , so our unemployment numbers are skewed.

Chris V++ said:

so·cial·ism
ˈ noun

1. a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

If the 'product' of a public school is educated students, and that means of production is owned / regulated by the community, how is a public school not socialist?

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Why do you think people are becoming more stupid? Give any job to the government - including education - and they're guaranteed to eventually screw it up.

dreadnought said:

The neat thing about socialism is that we don't have to work anymore. Money magically appears to pay all our bills.

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Then sign me up! I never knew the magic of socialism could work for me also.

Doctor.Sphinx said:

Then sign me up! I never knew the magic of socialism could work for me also.

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Yes, I don't know why we haven't tried it yet.

Doctor.Sphinx said:

Why do you think people are becomming more stupid? Give any job to the government - including education - and they're guaranteed to eventually screw it up.

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No argument there.

Given the embarrassing state of the right in the United States, it no doubt serves their interests to identify a bogeyman to deflect attention. And that bogeyman is "socialism" - a loaded term that has much more to do with attempting to create a fictional, threatening "other" than it has to do with a sober, balanced description of reality.

There can be no doubt - the USA is, to a certain degree like all other civilized nations, embraces the basic communitarian principles that undergird socialism. And that's a damn good thing. Yes, there is some "forced" redistribution of money from the rich and powerful to the poor and disenfranchised. Is that a terrible thing, especially for someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus?

The real world is complicated. Why some are rich and some are poor is complicated - it is foolish to imagine that the poor simply need to leave the beer and cigarettes - funded by the public purse - and "get a job". Likewise, it is equally unrealistic to think that we do not need the incentives of capitalism to flourish - the evidence is clear that capitalism, properly moderated of course, works.

But this is not an "either-or". And when some on the right trot out the tired "socialism" thing, they are engaged in a program of demonization, not a responsible dialog on how to best order a society.

Doctor.Sphinx said:

Why do you think people are becoming more stupid?

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It's a cooperative effort between students and their teachers. There is also a cynical lack of curiosity by both.

I'm don't think our schools are as bad as we are led to believe. What more can be done? We provide free transportation too and from school, . breakfast and lunch programs, in school tutoring and counseling. Free learning materials (text books) We have an amazing public library system where materials are even shipped between local branches upon request. Most people have internet access or at least access in school or at the library if needed. We also have educational public television still broadcasted over the airwaves. Doesn't most shool learning come from actually completing the reading and research assignments and doing the math?
A percentage of lower performing students bring down the averages. Why? Inadequate parenting? It's not a teacher's job to parent, but a lot of parents seem to presume it is.

OldWiseGuy said:

It's a cooperative effort between students and their teachers. There is also a cynical lack of curiosity by both.

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There is no real evidence that people are becoming "more stupid".

Quite the contrary:

Flynn effect: The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that was measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century

Alex Jones? People still take him seriously?

FireDragon76 said:

Alex Jones? People still take him seriously?

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Fair point, not everyone is getting smarter.

expos4ever said:

There is no real evidence that people are becoming "more stupid".

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Actually there is. The current opioid epidemic reveals stupidity on a widespread basis involving both sexes over a wide range of ages, ethnicities, education levels, and occupations. Further evidence is how the various agencies are dealing with it (very stupidly).

Stupidity can be found in most areas of society as well involving millions of people. These include health, finances, relationships, criminal behavior, job performance. Add to the list are those who ostensibly treat, advise, or adjudicate these 'stupidities' in a stupid manner and you have almost everyone in the country doing something stupid at any given time.

OldWiseGuy said:

Actually there is. The current opioid epidemic reveals stupidity on a widespread basis involving both sexes over a wide range of ages, ethnicities, education levels, and occupations. Further evidence is how the various agencies are dealing with it (very stupidly).

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Anecdotal and arguably there are confounding variables at play. In any event, it is not at all clear that people are no more stupid for choosing to take opiods, it’s just that the option is available to them whereas it was not in the past.

expos4ever said:

Anecdotal and arguably there are confounding variables at play. In any event, it is not at all clear that people are no more stupid for choosing to take opiods, it’s just that the option is available to them whereas it was not in the past.

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Users are dying like flies, yet they continue using these drugs. That's the definition of stupid.

European socialism would collapse within a year if the US pulled all of its military out of Europe and told them they were on their own if Russia invaded. Not one of them could afford to ramp up their military enough for self-preservation without cutting almost all of their benefits.

OldWiseGuy said:

Users are dying like flies, yet they continue using these drugs. That's the definition of stupid.

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Not the point!

Someone said that people were getting more stupid. I posted evidence that suggested otherwise. Your reply - that more people are using and dying from opiods - is not really an effective counterargument since it clearly could the case that increased use is not a result of increased stupidity, but rather increased access.

danbuter said:

European socialism would collapse within a year if the US pulled all of its military out of Europe and told them they were on their own if Russia invaded. Not one of them could afford to ramp up their military enough for self-preservation without cutting almost all of their benefits.

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Do you have any evidence for this startling and seemingly implausible claim?

You have no idea what's going on in the world at all if you don't realize the US is basically the military for the EU. All of the EU's military together is smaller than America's.

OldWiseGuy said:

Tax funded social programs do not constitute socialism.

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Of course they do.

Tax funded anything is socialist.