Is "socialism" a scare word in America?

Speedwell said:

What's your solution?

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Wait them out, and be a part of the Phoenix that rises from the ashes.

That is the human solution. The Christian solution is to trust in the Lord. This life is an extremely brief boot camp. It's not the end. It's the means to the end.

Albion said:

First century Rome was not a lot different in that respect from the America in which we've lived our lives. Most production was in the hands of private parties and their companies, and the government's need for infrastructure, metals, and grain, etc. was basically contracted out to private companies.

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So, capitalism.

Albion said:

That's correct of course. The program at that time was absolutely represented as providing only a partial replacement for lost income from wages, not what it's become for so many beneficiaries today. On the other hand, it is social insurance. Some people will have paid FICA taxes for many years and then die before retiring while others live longer than the average.

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This is why I moved to Kentucky 11 years ago from Seattle. The other reason is that SS covers the entire US, even though some parts are very cheap to live in and others are not. Moving here was the closest I could get to an "ex-patriot" standard of living without leaving the country. In seattle, my SS would not even pay my mortgage. Here, I can live extremely comfortable on it and put a lot of it into savings, even.

And, truth be told, I much prefer this lifestyle to the old Seattle lifestyle. And Seattle has only gotten much worse since then.

Speedwell said:

So, capitalism.

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Sadly, the US has not seen capitalism for quite a while.

Direct Driver said:

Sadly, the US has not seen capitalism for quite a while.

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When did the government assume control of the means of production? I must have missed it.

Speedwell said:

When did the government assume control of the means of production? I must have missed it.

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To quote Jordan Peterson when interviewed by Cathy Newman, "That's not what I said."

Direct Driver said:

To quote Jordan Peterson when interviewed by Cathy Newman, "That's not what I said."

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So then what happened to capitalism that we have not seen it in quite a while? Where did it go and what replaced it?

Speedwell said:

So then what happened to capitalism that we have not seen it in quite a while? Where did it go and what replaced it?

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Fascism. A simple example: The minimum wage.

Direct Driver said:

Fascism. A simple example: The minimum wage.

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Fascism: a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

Speedwell said:

Fascism: a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

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Mussolini, the man who actually coined the word, had this to say:
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."

The lockdowns are killing small business but big business is doing just fine. Cool, huh?

Fascism, at its simplest, as it pertains to business, is the government coming between two private parties in a business deal or contract. e.g. telling an employer what they must pay their employee, instead of the two parties coming to mutual agreement on their own.

Socialism simply takes over the business.

Speedwell said:

Fascism: a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

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BTW, from Meriam Webster: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

Does this remind one of the woke and cancel cultures? Who are the fascists?

You're right. The 'woke' culture may be more Fascistic than Socialistic, even though its supporters and detractors alike tend to use the word Socialist for it.

Albion said:

You're right. The 'woke' culture may be more Fascistic than Socialistic, even though its supporters and detractors alike tend to use the word Socialist for it.

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Ooooh. We're so evil that we're socialists and fascists both at once. What's next? Is it going to turn out that we've been Satanists, too, all along?

Speedwell said:

Ooooh. We're so evil that we're socialists and fascists both at once. What's next? Is it going to turn out that we've been Satanists, too, all along?

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Didn't someone else already have to correct you with a "That's not what I said" reminder?

I thought that was going to be sufficient.

Albion said:

Didn't someone else already have to correct you with a "That's not what I said" reminder?

I thought that was going to be sufficient.

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Sorry. I have a very hard time taking the conservative line on this seriously. It's not easy being an existential threat to the American Way of Life. You have to make allowances.

Speedwell said:

Sorry. I have a very hard time taking the conservative line on this seriously.

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I noticed. But if all we're going to get back in reply to our contentions and observations is needling and sarcasm, we all might as well call an end to this and move to different threads.

Albion said:

I noticed. But if all we're going to get back in reply to our contentions and observations is needling and sarcasm, we all might as well call an end to this and move to different threads.

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That's the problem. What you post frequently seems to me like needling and sarcasm.

Direct Driver said:

Mussolini, the man who actually coined the word, had this to say:
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."

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The lockdowns are killing small business but big business is doing just fine. Cool, huh?

Fascism, at its simplest, as it pertains to business, is the government coming between two private parties in a business deal or contract. e.g. telling an employer what they must pay their employee, instead of the two parties coming to mutual agreement on their own.

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Yes, and notice which side the big corporations and their CEOs have lined up behind in our own country.

Socialism simply takes over the business.

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True, but the Social Media giants, the Billionaire backers of the Democratic Party, even the Chamber of Commerce...all aligned against traditional values these days. None of these has anything to fear from the Schumer-Pelosi-Harris (and Biden) forces.