Why do you feel socialism is bad?

[Scout1441]

The evil of abortion continues with or without Obama. It is very evil that it is being used as an excuse to stop the good that Obama is trying to accomplish.

The government has a responsibility for various aspects of society. In Europe and Canada the governement for the most part fulfills its role.

In the United States however the lack of government for so many years has resulted in not only a health care crises, but a crises in all areas of society including education, law enforcement, and banking. No developed nation on earth is in such a mess in so many areas. Obama is here to fix things.

The evil of abortion probably will continue without Obama’s pro-infanticide policies and beliefs. However it won’t be sanctioned by the American taxpayer, and people working in the medical field will have the option to not participate based on their own conscience. The conscience clause is under attack by this administration. Furthermore, when we retake our nation and steer it back away from the socialist downslide that the leftists have been steering it towards, then personal responsibility will come back in the picture and that will reduce the amount of abortions the way the new high tech sonograms have reduced the butchery.
I’m not so sure about this healthcare crisis in the U.S. except alot of the northern tier states are apparently handling alot of Canadians who can’t receive proper healthcare in their own country. To fix it here in the U.S. do two things: 1) Allow Americans to shop around for better insurance policies in other states. 2) Put a clamp on the ambulance chasing trial lawyers who drive up costs with all the trivial lawsuits. Of course we could also round up the 20 million illegal aliens inside our borders and ship them to Canada, where they can receive superior health care.

 

[GodLovesTheSpek]

I have no idea how atheism has anything to do with the topic at hand.

If you want to do the will of the Lord support Obama bring in social programs to give everyone their human right to medical treatment and education.

It has everything to do with the topic. The will of the Lord is for people to go towards Him and join Him in Heaven. The goal of human society is get people to Heaven because we as people want the best for them. Heaven is the best and it is eternal. Those deceived developed nations are turning away from God and finding themselves content in a man-made Socialist Paradise – they do so at extreme peril.

 

[Scout1441]

…This is a right of every Canadian citizen. We don’t throw our sick people out of the hosptials and onto the street because they can’t pay.

I saw the movie Sicko by Michael Moore. It was so awful to see the sick people being taken out of hosptials because they could not pay…

It appears that Canadian Healthcare has its issues as well.

cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/

Long waits for specialists, diagnostic tests, and elective surgery. Also problems with huge bills for prescription drugs, since the Canadian system apparently doesn’t cover those expenses that are so often vital for the preservation of life. I could go on about Canadian Supreme Court decisions that addressed some of these issues of barbarity, but I am an American and I’ll keep my nose out of your country’s business.

Oh by the way, citing Michael Moore is not exactly a credible way to express your viewpoints. He is way beyond radical left and not many intelligent people take him seriously.

 

[sidbrown]

The bonuses were guaranteed in the employee’s contracts.

The employees contracts for any bonuses are null and void by virtue of equity law which would apply in this case to cancel out any contract which resulted in unjust enrichment so that since AIG fatcats were responsible for selling bad loans, they do not deserve to be rewarded for bad behavior.

 

[sidbrown]

The bailouts were necessary to keep an entire sector of our economy from going away for decades

In a market economy if you succeed you deserve to keep your profits, but if you take foolish risks and fail, then it is no fair to say that all of a sudden you believe in socialist bailouts for fatcats, but not for the poor working class. Further, you have not proven that an entire secotr of the USA economy would have failed if these bailouts were given. Famous economists have said no, that this would not have happened. You state your unsupportable opinion, and I have given references to economists who say that this would not have happened.

 

[sidbrown]

The bailouts have been/are being paid back

Not true according to the Congressional Budget Office. they said that at least $159 Billion will not be repaid and will be a cost to the taxpayer.

 

[CPA2]

You are correct that the greatest threat to human freedom is the concentration of power whether in the hands of government or anyone else. Very very true! (you surprise me) This is why Obama’s social programs are so needed. Giving everyone health care and education, is giving individuals power, thus spreading it out, instead of letting it concentrate further with the wealthy. Withholding power from the lowest of your society is a crime against the Lord.

Commumism is an overly governed society and we all know that that form of government does not work. Nobody wants that.

Social programs however to help give everyone a right to live however distributes power more evenly throughout society so that it can be healthy and vibrante.

Canada and Europe are excellent examples of this.

You are led by the Pied Piper. Have you ever studied Social Economics? We always get just the opposite of what government promises! Do you not know the results of FDR’s social programs in the 1930s or Johnson’s “Great Society” social programs in the the 1960s?

God respects our freedom to choose. Therefore, I argue for economic and political freedom. There will always be a need for government. However, I want to return to the vision of government as held by Adam Smith and our founding fathers in 1776. That government was small and its function was that of an umpire.

Today’s government is out of control. It wants to be my partner and I want to get rid of my partner. I want to be free to choose. I no longer have that freedom. Instead, this government of ours follows the socialist philosophy of participating in our lives and economy. We cannot have political freedom if we do not have economic freedom.

The Catholic Church opposes socialism because it is not voluntary. Socialism is forced upon us by the government. Big government (socialism) is not the solution; it is the problem.

 

[CPA2]

Even the mighty Mississippi river sometimes heads north. The dollar is no exception. There have been many dollar rallies since 1970.

My economics book in 1968, which was written by Paul Samuelson, said that we did not have to worry about debt because we owed it to ourselves. Yeah, right! The fate of the U.S. dollar is now firmly in the hands of foreigners, especially Communist China.

My personal prediction (A prediction that I never read about) still stands: The United States will become a third world country overnight when foreigners decide that they no longer want the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the world!

I think that there are only two types of investments. There are investments in financial assets like stocks and bonds AND there are investments in real assets like metals, soybeans, etc. Both types of investments have their day. Usually when one goes up the other one goes down. Additionally, in order to be truly diversified you have to be flexible enough to be open to both types of investments.

The only clock that is broken is the U.S. dollar. The government has not given us honest money. Remember, only the government can cause inflation. I had an inkling of what was to come in 1970. Before I left Switzerland in January 1971 I converted $10 of American money into Swiss francs. I still have those Swiss francs and they are worth a lot more than $10!

I have been predicting that the dollar would go bankrupt since I graduated from college in 1970. I mentioned that to a guy who had a masters in economics one time and he got very angry! I even mentioned the bankruptcy of the dollar in the economic classes that I taught at a Community College.

It has taken a very long time to destroy the almighty dollar. The process started with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. I do not know if this recent credit crisis will precipitate the dollar’s total collapse, but we continue to move in that direction.

 

[tjm190]

In a market economy if you succeed you deserve to keep your profits, but if you take foolish risks and fail, then it is no fair to say that all of a sudden you believe in socialist bailouts for fatcats, but not for the poor working class. Further, you have not proven that an entire secotr of the USA economy would have failed if these bailouts were given. Famous economists have said no, that this would not have happened. You state your unsupportable opinion, and I have given references to economists who say that this would not have happened.

What is your problem with the bailouts? If ‘socialism’ was a series of loans that had to be paid back, I’d have no problem.

The most famous economists are the ones that get hired by the U.S. government to actually act on the economy, particularly those selected to serve on the Federal Reserve. The fact that some people disagree doesn’t prove anything.

The AIG bailout is the one least likely to be paid back in full, and it was easily the most necessary,
marketwatch.com/story/paulson-25-unemployment-rate-without-aig-bailout-2010-01-27-131520
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704561004575013783488143998.html
chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6839167.html

 

[tjm190]

Not true according to the Congressional Budget Office. they said that at least $159 Billion will not be repaid and will be a cost to the taxpayer.

I’ve already showed you that most of the 'bug Wall Street banks have paid their loans back- smaller state banks are the ones having the problems.

 

[tjm190]

The employees contracts for any bonuses are null and void by virtue of equity law which would apply in this case to cancel out any contract which resulted in unjust enrichment so that since AIG fatcats were responsible for selling bad loans, they do not deserve to be rewarded for bad behavior.

The contracts were still, and are still, quite valid. High ranking members of AIG were just as entitled to their salaries then as they were before. Could AIG have renegotiated the contracts? Sure. But that would have meant months of negotiations and perhaps the loss of several dozen employees.
But to not pay the bonuses and not renegotiate the contracts would have been highly illegal.

 

[sedonaman]

Total Nonsence! In Canada, it is everyone’s right to a good education and top of the line medical treatment. …

If it is “top of the line”, why do we see some Canadians coming to the U.S. for medical treatment?

Here is how a bureaucracy works *:

Suppose you are in charge of an imaging facility under 0bamacare, and your sponsor from Washington asks you to budget the number of MRIs you will need to do next fiscal year so he can fund you. You think you will do about 100 before this year is out, and since the population is aging, you will need funding for 110 next year, so that’s what you request. The sponsor says he can fund only 105. Fast forward a year, and you’ve done only 75 and expect at the rate you are going, you will do only 80. You see the specter of being cut to 80 the next year. No bureaucracy likes to have its funding cut, so you call up all the doctors you know and tell them to request an MRI on all the patients they send you until further notice. Everyone gets an MRI whether they need it or not. Meanwhile there is another imaging facility in the next county that is short of MRI funding.

The point is that bureaucracies can operate only on averages, and they force everyone to fit the average profile. In a large population, you might find one sample who is average, but the rest are not. Those who are not will not be allowed to pay for their own medical needs if the government decides they don’t fit the socialist dream of what society should be like. Fourteen-year-old Mary can get her abortion, but old granny is SOL if she need life-saving surgery. That’s how socialism denies people their rights, and don’t tell me it’s not going on in Canada.*

 

[CPA2]

If it is “top of the line”, why do we see some Canadians coming to the U.S. for medical treatment?

Here is how a bureaucracy works *:

Suppose you are in charge of an imaging facility under 0bamacare, and your sponsor from Washington asks you to budget the number of MRIs you will need to do next fiscal year so he can fund you. You think you will do about 100 before this year is out, and since the population is aging, you will need funding for 110 next year, so that’s what you request. The sponsor says he can fund only 105. Fast forward a year, and you’ve done only 75 and expect at the rate you are going, you will do only 80. You see the specter of being cut to 80 the next year. No bureaucracy likes to have its funding cut, so you call up all the doctors you know and tell them to request an MRI on all the patients they send you until further notice. Everyone gets an MRI whether they need it or not. Meanwhile there is another imaging facility in the next county that is short of MRI funding.

The point is that bureaucracies can operate only on averages*, and they force everyone to fit the average profile. In a large population, you might find one sample who is average, but the rest are not. Those who are not will not be allowed to pay for their own medical needs if the government decides they don’t fit the socialist dream of what society should be like. Fourteen-year-old Mary can get her abortion, but old granny is SOL if she need life-saving surgery. That’s how socialism denies people their rights, and don’t tell me it’s not going on in Canada.

This is from the voice of experience. Thank You!

 

[Seeker100]

It appears that Canadian Healthcare has its issues as well.

cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/

Long waits for specialists, diagnostic tests, and elective surgery. Also problems with huge bills for prescription drugs, since the Canadian system apparently doesn’t cover those expenses that are so often vital for the preservation of life. I could go on about Canadian Supreme Court decisions that addressed some of these issues of barbarity, but I am an American and I’ll keep my nose out of your country’s business.

Oh by the way, citing Michael Moore is not exactly a credible way to express your viewpoints. He is way beyond radical left and not many intelligent people take him seriously.

The Canadian system is not perfect however people get the treatments they need even if occasionally they have to go to Europe or United States to get their government paid care.

Michael Moore is a living Catholic saint and a fine American of truth.

 

[Seeker100]

This is from the voice of experience. Thank You!

Seems like you like law of the jungle. You like the strong crushing the weak. If that is the society you want, that is the society you get. This should be your national anthum if it isn’t already.

youtube.com/watch?v=g_enNmzWn6Y

Welcome to the jungle baby, it gets worse here day by day…

 

[ComputerGeek25]

The Canadian system is not perfect however people get the treatments they need even if occasionally they have to go to Europe or United States to get their government paid care.

There is no perfect system. So why should the US trade one system that doesn’t work for 100% of all people, for another system that 100% doesn’t work.

Therefore, what is your point?

Michael Moore is a living Catholic saint and a fine American of truth.

 

[CPA2]

Seems like you like law of the jungle. You like the strong crushing the weak. If that is the society you want, that is the society you get. This should be your national anthum if it isn’t already.

youtube.com/watch?v=g_enNmzWn6Y

Welcome to the jungle baby, it gets worse here day by day…

You are correct; I do not like the strong (governments) crushing the weak (its citizens).

Socialist governments treat everyone the same They treat everyone just like slaves. Who is the master and who is the slave when you sit across from the IRS?

“It is important to remember that government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. The funds that a government spends for whatever purposes are levied by taxation. And taxes are paid because the taxpayers are afraid of offering resistance to the tax gatherers. They know that any disobedience or resistance is hopeless. As long as this the state of affairs, the government is able to collect the money that it wants to spend. Government is the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning. Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom (Luwig von Misses).”

 

[CPA2]

Welcome to fiat money. A Federal Reserve Note is an IOU nothing. If you were to turn in a Federal Reserve Note, you would get another Federal Reserve Note. What we have is a cookie jar with no gold in the cookie jar!

100% Commodity Money
The process of creating money started innocently enough. Jewelers deal with gold every day. Jewelers would store people’s gold. Jewelers would issue receipts or deposit slips for that gold. People would trade those receipts as if they were gold. Every receipt was backed by 100% gold.

Then lending and banking begins. Depositors wanted interest on their deposits of gold. Others wanted to borrow gold. The jeweler could print some private money and have the borrower sign an IOU.

Fractional Commodity Reserve Money
These new private banks discover something. Not everyone wants to withdraw gold at the same time. The new banker can issue more paper money than gold. This is fractional backing with gold as reserves and the rest with IOU’s.

Then begins the process of changing what a reserve is, and what functions as a reserve. Some jewelers and/or banks get greedy and lend out too much paper money. There is a run on banks, banks fail and people loose their gold. The government steps in and prohibits private bank money. Only the government prints money. The government replaces gold reserves with government money. However, government currency is still redeemable in gold. Reserves still function as “backing” but now government currency is also a reserve along with gold. Next, over time, there is a practice of suspending gold payments in the process of changing what is a reserve. In effect, redeemable currency is replaced with non-redeemable government money. Reserves are then no longer “backing,” and government currency serves as backing. Reserves (government money) no longer have intrinsic value. Government reserves are not intended to give confidence in the sense that gold reserves did.

Fractional Fiat Reserve

Government money and deposits at the central bank act as replacements for gold. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 creates the structure (cookie jar) of the Fed. By 1931 (off the gold standard) The Federal Reserve Act allows the system to convert completely to fiat reserves. In 1913 the Fed requires the banks to place part of their reserves (fiat money) at the Fed. Then the Fed deposits become reserves. The last step is that the Fed can create reserves out of nothing.

There is nothing in the cookie jar. A Federal Reserve Note is an IOU nothing. Demand determines the price of our money. If demand were to evaporate, so would our money. FINI.

Welcome to fiat money. A Federal Reserve Note is an IOU nothing. If you were to turn in a Federal Reserve Note, you would get another Federal Reserve Note. What we have is a cookie jar with no gold in the cookie jar!

100% Commodity Money
The process of creating money started innocently enough. Jewelers deal with gold every day. Jewelers would store people’s gold. Jewelers would issue receipts or deposit slips for that gold. People would trade those receipts as if they were gold. Every receipt was backed by 100% gold.

Then lending and banking begins. Depositors wanted interest on their deposits of gold. Others wanted to borrow gold. The jeweler could print some private money and have the borrower sign an IOU.

Fractional Commodity Reserve Money
These new private banks discover something. Not everyone wants to withdraw gold at the same time. The new banker can issue more paper money than gold. This is fractional backing with gold as reserves and the rest with IOU’s.

Then begins the process of changing what a reserve is, and what functions as a reserve. Some jewelers and/or banks get greedy and lend out too much paper money. There is a run on banks, banks fail and people loose their gold. The government steps in and prohibits private bank money. Only the government prints money. The government replaces gold reserves with government money. However, government currency is still redeemable in gold. Reserves still function as “backing” but now government currency is also a reserve along with gold. Next, over time, there is a practice of suspending gold payments in the process of changing what is a reserve. In effect, redeemable currency is replaced with non-redeemable government money. Reserves are then no longer “backing,” and government currency serves as backing. Reserves (government money) no longer have intrinsic value. Government reserves are not intended to give confidence in the sense that gold reserves did.

Fractional Fiat Reserve

Government money and deposits at the central bank act as replacements for gold. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 creates the structure (cookie jar) of the Fed. By 1931 (off the gold standard) The Federal Reserve Act allows the system to convert completely to fiat reserves. In 1913 the Fed requires the banks to place part of their reserves (fiat money) at the Fed. Then the Fed deposits become reserves. The last step is that the Fed can create reserves out of nothing.

There is nothing in the cookie jar. A Federal Reserve Note is an IOU nothing. Demand determines the price of our money. If demand were to evaporate, so would our money. FINI.

Gold is a store of value because governments cannot create more of it or debase it. That is why governments hate gold and people since recorded history love gold. Gold is a monetary metal, not an industrial metal. You cannot eat it, etc. Gold is useless in so many ways, except one. It has all of the attributes of REAL MONEY. Only governments call it a “barbaric metal!”

 

[sidbrown]

You are led by the Pied Piper. Have you ever studied Social Economics? We always get just the opposite of what government promises! Do you not know the results of FDR’s social programs in the 1930s or Johnson’s “Great Society” social programs in the the 1960s?

God respects our freedom to choose. Therefore, I argue for economic and political freedom. There will always be a need for government. However, I want to return to the vision of government as held by Adam Smith and our founding fathers in 1776. That government was small and its function was that of an umpire.

Today’s government is out of control. It wants to be my partner and I want to get rid of my partner. I want to be free to choose. I no longer have that freedom. Instead, this government of ours follows the socialist philosophy of participating in our lives and economy. We cannot have political freedom if we do not have economic freedom.

The Catholic Church opposes socialism because it is not voluntary. Socialism is forced upon us by the government. Big government (socialism) is not the solution; it is the problem.

Big government is not the same as socialism. Socialism involves the nationalisation of the major industries. Last time I checked, Ford motors, colgate-Palmolive, IBM, Apple, Motorola, the New York Times, Dell
Computers, were not nationalised.

 

[sidbrown]

EvenMy economics book in 1968, which was written by Paul Samuelson, said that we did not have to worry about debt because we owed it to ourselves. .

What page is this written on, or have you misquoted ?