Socialism in America, why is it good or bad?

Question

Socialism in America, why is it good or bad?

Answer 1

Socialized water costs me $4 per 1000 gallons.

I see the periodic water tests printed in the newspapers.



I also have the choice to buy it via free market capitalist markets, but it will cost me $0.69 a gallon and I won't know it failed its turbidity test until I am in the hospital watching the recall on tv.

at that rate a 7-10 gallon shower would cost you $4.84 - $6.90 every shower.



Your body is mostly water.

Which do you think is better regarding water distribution?



Not defending the idea of converting to pure socialism, just pointing out the realities that it serves its purpose.



The idea to not fix something until it i broken is what resulted in 9/11.

We didn't want to fix national security and ariline security until we saw it was broken as planes were exploding out of the side of the World Trade Center.

Answer 2

Good because it's the only alternative to the disastrous free market anarchy we have today that convicts the vast majority of humanity to slavery for the benefit of the wealthy few.



In the United States, far-Right Republicans and Democratic liberals alike have sold many people on the notion that the market should be the main force to drive the economy and define social relationships. They maintain that government should stay off people's backs and out of our wallets. They promote rugged individualism and consumerism couched in terms like "personal responsibility," "freedom" and "independence." "Greed is good!" was the mantra of Michael Douglas' character, Gordon Gecko, in the 1980s movie "Wall Street," and those became the words to live by in the '80s and '90s. The philosophy and value of greed was taken to heart by many a corporate CEO, and, over the past three decades, this twisted logic -- underlined by the values of individualism and the culture of consumerism -- has turned back the clock on human development with devastating consequences.

More than 12 million American children grow up in impoverished homes. When compared with 20 other wealthy nations on measures of health, safety and relative poverty, America's children fare amongst the worst.

In terms of the human development index, the United States has fallen from second place in 1990 (behind Canada) to 12th place. This decline continued through both the Clinton and Bush administrations, with the US falling to sixth in 1995, ninth in 2000, and 12th in 2005.

In certain respects, the decline is even worse. The US is 34th in infant mortality—with a level comparable to Croatia, Estonia, Poland and Cuba. US school children perform significantly below their counterparts in countries like Canada, France, Germany and Japan, and 14 percent of the population, some 40 million people, lack basic literacy and number skills.

Of the world’s 30 richest nations, which comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States has the highest proportion of children living in poverty, 15 percent, and the most people in prison, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the whole population. With five percent of the world’s population, the US has 24 percent of the world’s prisoners.

Social mobility is now less fluid in the United States than in other affluent nations. Indeed, a poor child born in Germany, France, Canada or one of the Nordic countries has a better chance to join the middle class in adulthood than an American child born into similar circumstances.

In overall life expectancy, the United States ranks an astonishing 42nd, behind not only Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all the countries of Western Europe, but also Israel, Greece, Singapore, Costa Rica and South Korea.

Answer 3

The desire for more things (AKA Greed) will defeat socialism until the day that everything is automated and we humans can sit on our fat @5535 and let the robots do all the work...*sigh*...I can't wait.



Socialism will only be possible when the world is at its peak technological epoch, where no one will have to do anything, which sort of defeats the purpose of having money. Why should I bother paying you if you did nothing and why would I require payment for doing nothing? Money at that point will basically be outdated and as such no one will care about having more than someone else.

Answer 4

I would doubt that the stage of true socialism would ever take place in our country. I think the closest we have ever been to it, would be during WW2, when the government mandated the products a factory would manufacture.





Oh sorry, I did not answer. I don't think that it is good, or bad. I would have to say that true socialism in th US is impossible. IE entrepreneurship is a staple of our culture. Anyone in the US can open a small buisness and watch it grow into something large, and I doubt that we will ever sacrifice it.

Answer 5

Socialism already exists in America. Public Schools, Social Security and Medicare as well as the Income tax, they work fairly well and I guess you might say they are good things. But pure Socialism is only going to happen in the minds of the weak..the Right Wingers who suffer from RWA syndrome. They see things that are not real and protest imaginary tax increases at Tea Parties. They have fear and paranoia and cannot except change even if it is good. All change is bad for them.

Answer 6

bad...and i'm going to answer it this way...dating back to when johnson took office and his version of the 'new deal' is probably the start of moral, social, and economic decay of the US. i believe since that time we HAVE tried the socialism thinking which is why we are in this situation now. once the government takes control and becomes the father, mother, employer and such, you have basically taken away any initiative for some individuals to perform like...well, basically adults. the 12 million children in poverty are a direct result of their parents not getting enough education to work for anything other than minimum wage which brings me to point that if they can't afford the child before they had it, what makes them think they can after. this IS called personal responsibility. then the downward spiral continues, i believe this country has literally thrown massive amounts of money into the education system with absolutely no results, one reason, teachers aren't paid according to performance but 'entitled' to keep their jobs due to 'tenure', which gives them no incentive to teach...well, because no matter what, they get paid. the infant mortality is a direct reflection of the governments hands in the healthcare system today. the government is totally responsible for a system that they themselves created. you know, i could go on and on with this, but in all actuality, this country has been trying these socialist programs since johnson(and to be honest, even before him), and if the programs as it stands now are so great, what makes any of us think pouring even more money into it is going to make it any better. i will say this, i have been to a lot of countries throughout my years and yes, even those in europe, as a matter of fact i have relatives in a few of them, and to be honest, just like here in the states, i have some that are on the dole and have been since as long as i can remember. this is what socialism does to some(not all)people, it takes away their drive to be an 'individual with personal responsibilities' because they know no matter what, someone else is going to take of them. in closing, i'll just say once again, i don't care how it is done in any other country in the world, you people have your own little utopia and if that's what you want, then great. leave us here in the US the hell alone. for the people here in this country who believe this avenue is so great, i want you to take a look back over the last 50 years and look at how much money this country has spent on the exact programs you are talking about and look at the results that we have gotten and tell the rest of the free thinkers on here at Y!A that spending and taxing even more is going to do any better.

Answer 7

Socialism is bad anywhere its tried. Not just bad for America

Answer 8

The answer depends entirely on your point of view and your value system. Freedom and socialism are incompatible. If you value security more than freedom you might be inclined to gamble away freedom and place upon yourself the shackles of socialism in the hope of receiving the promise of security.



Myself I see socialism as a road to nowhere. History has shown that trade freedom for security most often wind up with neither. In the best case socialism provides no incentive for improvement or to increase prosperity. It is a stagnant system of slavery. Where the production and prosperity are punished out of existence and dependency is promoted beyond the societies ability to finance it.

Answer 9

Capitalism will increasingly turn into a burden for working class.-America, the historically highest point of development of world capitalism, has been transformed into the center of world capitalism has become the center of its deepening crisis .The strongest capitalist superpower on the planet, capitalist America as a whole, not solely the evaporated US "sub-prime mortgage market", is transformed into the most "toxic asset" of the global system. Trotsky had predicted that America rising to world hegemony accumulates all the world contradictions as dynamite in its foundations. This dynamite, accumulated during a century of expansions and crises, of wars and revolutions, is now exploding changing the shape of the world in the 21st century.



We are very happy!The door for Bolshevism is open!

We do know that this deepening world crisis is unstoppable.

Answer 10

Two words. No freedom.



Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government

- Declaration of Independence



THE REVOLUTION STARTED APRIL 15!

Answer 11

The main problem with socialism is that it stifles entrepreneurship and innovation. Who is going to work his or her butt off to develop a new product or procedure if they’re not going to be rewarded for it?



Changing from capitalism to socialism just exchanges one oligarchy (the rich) for another (government bureaucrats).



America was once the richest country in the world, by far. Then we allowed liberals to infect us with the creeping socialism that has all but destroyed our economy. Socialism is about consumption. Capitalism is about wealth creation. It was capitalism that created the world’s largest middle class, which is ours. Socialism is destroying it. Too many people have been led to believe that socialism will provide free health care, free college educations, and free everything else. But unless you believe doctors are going to practice medicine for free, somebody has to pay them. Who would that be? If it’s not you, who is it?



Socialism is not the antidote for capitalist greed, and most entrepreneurs understand that they cannot exploit workers for their own benefit. Many years ago, Henry Ford raised the wages of his workers so they could afford to buy the cars they were making. He also created the weekend so people would have more time off to enjoy their newfound prosperity.



Excluding the Vanderbilt family, show me a rich person and I will show you a philanthropist (even the Vanderbilts had a philanthropic bent when they endowed Vanderbilt University). Bill Gates has already donated about $30 billion of his wealth to his foundation, which helps children around the world. Warren Buffett has committed to leave almost all of his fortune to the Gates foundation. John D. Rockefeller, who was widely vilified for his wealth and was one of the original “robber barons” gave almost all of his near-billion dollar fortune to his foundation to help people.



The idea that socialism is about equality is nonsense. Every country has rulers, sometimes called “leaders,” and they and their cronies live much better than their people. Look at Kim Jong Il of North Korea. When he visits China, he travels in a luxurious rail car (he’s afraid to fly). He dines on steak and lobster and drinks fine wine and cognac. Many of his people are starving and have to eat grass to survive. Look at Vladimir Putin of Russia. He spends his summer weekends at a Dachau on the Black Sea. His people spend their weekends in cramped apartments in Moscow or other cities. By any standard, Putin’s lifestyle is that of a “rich” man. Does anyone think the Castro brothers of Cuba or Hugo Chavez of Venezuela eat rice and beans for dinner every night, which is what their people eat? Think again.



We need to refocus on creating wealth instead of just consuming it.

Answer 12

Good to the extent that it gives us social security, public schools, welfare, etc.

When mixed in with capitalism, it creates a good system.



If it were pure socialism, or too much of it, then people would lose motivation to do anything, and we wouldn't achieve anything.

Answer 13

has anyone living off the government even followed what Obama and the democrats want to do to those that get tax payers dollars for nothing?.......you honestly think that once it starts with AIG and GM and banks that it won't be you soon?......socialism is coming and it won't be pleasant for those liberals living off the government.....the free ride is almost over

Answer 14

bad to the extent that it involves me



i would not object to counties or states going socialist



and showing me how well it works



(provided i was allowed to relocate prior to implementation)



i will not have it forced on me



socialist security needs to be killed

for a beginning at reform

Answer 15

Bad.



It sacrifices the individual for the collective.

Answer 16

Does it matter, really? Obama is making sure we become the Socialist country he wants and NOTHING will stop him and his croonies! Soon it will be Dictator Obama!

Croonie's.. I love to say that!



IMPEACH HIS AAASSSS!!!!!

Answer 17

Our Government is a democracy. Our economic ideal is capitalism. We are to date the greatest nation ever conceived on planet earth. Don't fix it if its not broken.

Answer 18

SOCIALISM IS AS YUMMY AS VODKA AND MILK