Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
1. There's no unemployment, but nobody actually works.
2. No one works, but everyone gets paid.
3. Everyone gets paid, but there's nothing to buy with the money.
4. No one can buy anything, but everyone owns everything.
5. Everyone owns everything, but no one is satisfied.
6. No one is satisfied, but 99% of the people vote for the system.
~Bennett Owen, National Review in 1990
HT: Anonymous
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
22 Comments:
Thanks Mark.
7. People who have never lived in a socialist society opine about how awful it is to live in a socialist society.
8. Capitalist countries make it their duty to knock the legs out from underneath any and all emerging socialist systems (especially if they begin to work) with invasive military and anti-trade policy.
9. People in capitalist societies write books about how awful socialism is and how it never works.
10 Whenever capitalism manages to win the hearts and minds of the people, (ie 1920s, the last 8 years) disaster always follows (ie 1930s, today).
This comment has been removed by the author.
11) Hey! Socialism only murdered 110 million (maybe 259 million)!
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.TAB1.GIF
Let’s give it another try!
It never ceases to amaze me that Socialism still has its advocates.
Worse still, they now control our entire Federal government.
I doubt we’ll survive it:
http://sbvor.blogspot.com/2008/11/media-malpractice-how-obama-got-elected.html
The America Dream - It was nice while it lasted.
SBVOR
You confuse Communism with Socialism, (something the communists LOVE). Communism is anti-social, anti-democratic, authoritarian in the extreme. It LIES tout socialism. Its REALITY is extreme right wing big brother authoritarianism.
Returning to communism is NOT anyone's wish. What I WISH is for people to comprehend that Politics should NOT be left or right, but be a centrist anchor against extremism of ANY color.
Socialism fails and appeals to failures.
11. Socialism is the tick on the hind quarter of capitalism.
12. Socialists redistribute what capitalists produce.
10 Whenever capitalism manages to win the hearts and minds of the people, (ie 1920s, the last 8 years) disaster always follows (ie 1930s, today).
If you think the last 8 years was an instance of "capitalism winning the hearts and minds of people", that can only mean you don't know what capitalism is.
And if you think the 192s "caused" the Depression of the 1930s, then your knowledge of history is roughly the equal of your knowledge of capitalism.
What I WISH is for people to comprehend that Politics should NOT be left or right, but be a centrist anchor against extremism of ANY color.
So, according to your thinking, an "extreme" advocacy of political freedom and the protection of individual rights and an "extreme" advocacy of totalitarian enslavement and the elimination of individual rights are equally undesirable, not because of any difference in their consequences for people's lives, but merely because both are "extreme".
Which means, that a government that offers "extreme" protection of our rights against criminals of all sorts and a government that offers "extreme" violation of our rights through enslavement are equally undesirable because of their "extremism".
Which means, an "extremely" just government and an "extremely" unjust government are equally undesirable because of their extremism -- instead, we need a mixture of justice and injustice in our system to avoid "extremism".
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under socialism, it's the other way around.
anonymous said:
12. Socialists redistribute what capitalists produce.
Under capitalism, those who organize production redistribute (to themselves) what workers produce.
Has anyone noticed that the defenders of socialism/communism are really pretty lame? Do you think they could function in a free market with all that icky competition and stuff?
Under communism , those who organize production redistribute (to themselves) what workers produce.
Fixed that for you.
The late great Soviet Union attached their gulags to factories, mines, forestry, etc. to use prisoners as slave labor and appropriate all the production of those workers.
Russia still does that. The factory that produces their T-90 tank is a prison.
Arman sez:
“You confuse Communism with Socialism”
Communism and Fascism are two sides of the same totalitarian Socialist coin. There is hardly a dime’s worth of difference between them.
The political spectrum does not run from Left to Right, it runs from Freedom to Totalitarianism. Even Democratic Socialism is at the extreme end of the totalitarian scale.
I lived in a socialist country, err... in a "paradise." Now, under Barack Millhouse Obama and the liberals in the Congress are slowly but steadily turning my beloved America into such "paradise."
May the Lord save us all (except the liberals).
anon @ 2:08 PM and arman again entertains us with their abysmal ignorance of the real world by spouting their CPUSA talking points as if they had any validity...
In fact its quite sad that arman hasn't figured out that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between socialism and communism...
The ongoing idiocy about what capitalism alledgedly does to the working man skips one very painfully and obvious point, no one holds a gun to man's head and forces him to work in a capitalist society...
Do some homework you socialist loving, parasitic losers: Murder by the State
Which means, an "extremely" just government and an "extremely" unjust government are equally undesirable because of their extremism
Extreme justice is a misnomer. Justice is a matter of BALANCE, which is exactly what the extremist lacks, which is why government must sit the center anchor.
Even Democratic Socialism is at the extreme end of the totalitarian scale.
So Denmark's situation is just as repugnant as Cuba's?
In fact its quite sad that arman hasn't figured out that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between socialism and communism
It is ignorant propaganda that lumps apples and oranges. It is only with intelligent contemplation that differences can be understood and explained.
Extreme justice is a misnomer. Justice is a matter of BALANCE, which is exactly what the extremist lacks, which is why government must sit the center anchor.
An extemely just government and "extreme justice" are two different things, so your response is nothing but a straw man.
What's more, justice does not consist of a "balance" between justice and injustice -- any more than truth consists of a "balance" between truth and falsehood.
"Extreme" is a morally neutral term. An "extreme" genius and an "extreme" criminal are not moral equals.
An extemely just government and "extreme justice" are two different things,
No they are not! To be just you must be fair, balanced and not given to extremities. Putting the word just and extreme together, (in any of the words renditions) is an oxymoron. You can have an extremist government or a just government but you cannot aim for both!
What's more, justice does not consist of a "balance" between justice and injustice
Justice is in itself balance. Injustice is when there is imbalance... where one party's privilege impairs another party's. When we exercise our rights, it will often impinge on the rights of others. Justice is a search for balance of rights.
"Extreme" is a morally neutral term.
Not when it is applied to government and justice.
Let us not confuse spectrums.
Capitalism versus Communism remain on opposing extremes of the economic spectrum.
Captilism advocates profit motive, and the forces of the invisible hand to moderate an economy. In fact, individual rights are cast aside in such extremes due to personal motivation and profit insentive.
However, communism is quite the opposite. Hence the indicative "commune". It is an economic belief in which the individual's rights are held in the highest esteem. Everyone is equal, and all wealth is distributed eqaully amungst all parties, by the state.
As for the political aspects, one extreme is a totalitarian dictatorship, the other, is a complete democracy.
Socialism, though very left wing communist, is still democratically elected (ex: Sweden).
Communism, however, practises left wing economics, and right wing (totalitarian) politics, though, true Marxism would have no governmental establishment at all.
Fascism would be the practise of both right wing examples (totalitarian regime and capitalism (ex: Nazi Germany, or even modern day China)).
Dehven
Very well stated. It truly irks me when rather intelligent people go off on rants, oblivious to the lack of intelligent meaning in their prose.
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