Addendum to Survey on Government

[Guest Michael Joel Benoit]

Do you even really know what a Socialist is?

 

Kotzenjunge

Doubts It

Socialist is someone who believes in Socialism. Socialism is different from Captialism in that the production and the distrubition of goods is controlled by the goverment and not big buisness.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Socialism is just a fancy word for Communism. Go ask the Russians how that experiment turned out.

[Guest Michael Joel Benoit]

Socialism could work. It didn't work in Russia because they screwed up the concept. Their version of socialism is not the version of socialism that can work. The kind Karl Marx envisioned.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Well, at least he has a basic understanding, even though he doesn't realize that human greed and ambition keep it from working.

 

Kotzenjunge

Sort of Relieved

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

When asked how he'd run the US, he had this to say.

 

Make more homes for the homeless. Thereby eliminating the useless shit we have in this country. And believe me we have ALOT of useless shit in this country. Golf courses have enough land for alot of homes. I would also eliminate Wallstreet cuz Captialism would be dead. Everything is at a reasonable price like DVD's cost $20.00 and computers $10.00. Everyone would get food as I would send food mobiles to give food to people sort of like the milkman but the food man. Everyone owns everything so that means Joe Smloe with the glass eye and beer belly could own part of the New York Yankees or Trump Plaza. No inflation due to low prices for everything. Believe me, more people will buy if it is at a reasonable price. AND STAY OUT OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS! A military yes. But only to defend us. No special missions or shit. Socialism will take over.

 

Yeah. That's how I would make America better.

 

When the 100 replies came back at him with rebuttle, he didn't respond...

[Guest Michael Joel Benoit]

Human greed and ambition kept socialism from working but it could still work.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Joe Smloe is the funniest part.

 

Kotzenjunge

Wonders What Having a Glass Eye is Like

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Joe Smloe is the funniest part.

 

Kotzenjunge

Wonders What Having a Glass Eye is Like

No way man, computers at $10 is laughable! Regulating computer costs ( a product that requires CRAZY knowledge, tons of education, and lots of mental labor) just about sums up how fucked in the head socialists are. There's a REASON computers cost so much money. Because they're WORTH that much money. Why would anyone want to become a computer engineer in SK's socialist dream world when you can get just as much revenue flipping veggie burgers for a living? There's a little something called incentive and "the drive to suceed."

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Come on, computers don't have a beer belly and a glass eye. You can't beat that.

 

Kotzenjunge

Thinks Computers Could be Funny if Dressed in Pirate Outfits

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Come on, computers don't have a beer belly and a glass eye. You can't beat that.

 

Kotzenjunge

Thinks Computers Could be Funny if Dressed in Pirate Outfits

It's ha ha funny. But his socialist vision is tragically funny.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

I go for the Ha Ha and not for the tragic funny. I reserve that for real life, not messageboards.

 

SKBF: He brings the funny!

 

Kotzenjunge

Appreciates Unintentional Comedy

[Guest Kingpk]

Human greed and ambition kept socialism from working but it could still work.

And how would it work, O Wise One? How do you supress greed and ambition without pissing the populace off?

 

(This should be good for both ha ha AND tragic laughs)

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

SKBF would also provide the money to manipulate the American genetic code, so that everyone's penis would be the same size. Problem is, with the combination of SKBF's obsessive party line of equality along with the fact that he's never seen a naked chick before...EVERYONE had the same size penis, resulting in the gradual collapse of the USA.

[Guest EricMM]

How do you supress greed and ambition without pissing the populace off?

 

Perhaps, dare I say it, MDMA in the drinking water?

 

The computer explaination says it all. Why would someone want to make the effort to be a computer technician or such if there were no incentives? Perhaps the government could force certain people into certain jobs. So you're advocating a police state.

 

Socialism is a cute idea that works for oh, a small family.

 

You start talking about anything larger and it quickly becomes unpractical. Why the HELL do you think the US is the most affluent nation in the world? It's because we have more capitalism than socialism. Socialism is nice, and Capitalism is effective. The french don't have to pay a cent for child care, and the US has the ability to trounce the rest of the world in an armed conflict. Which would you choose?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

No shit, are you just going to apply this concept to another species or what?

 

The only time socialism EVER worked was the variant of which that was practiced by small indian tribes. It only worked then because it was necessary to a tribe's survival. One group hunted while others did work back at home. Communal government, sharing of resources, hell, it was a great system, but we're not moving back into wigwams, let me tell ya. Human drive and success has completely left that concept obsolete.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Bob Rae's NDP government tried a limited form of socialism in Ontario in the early 90s. Unemployment sky-rocketed when people found out that they could make just as much money on welfare as working. Taxes hit the roof, and it still wasn't enough to cover all the expenses. Ontario was on the verge of bankruptcy, when Ontarians overwhelmingly voted in a Conservative majority to try to fix the mess in 1995. Health care and education were cut to abysmal levels out of necessity to pay off the province's debts, royally pissing off the unions. However, it didn't stop the citizens from re-electing Harris in 1999 in another large majority. 100 years earlier, and we very well may have had a civil war over this. We are finally starting to pull out of it 10 years later.

 

Ontario is a province of approx. 12 million people, probably closer to 10 million at the time of the Rae administration, and was practically destroyed in 4 years. I shudder to think what would have happened had Rae been re-elected.

 

How can you possibly think that this will work in a nation the size of the United States?

[Guest HecateRose]

It's one of those concepts that is good on paper, and with the right group of honest hard-working people it could work, but you would never get a group like that together, let alone be able to pull it off in a country with a population as large as the US. It's a great idea, but impossible in todays society, where everyone want to be rich and successful, but not everyone is willing to work for it.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

The scary thing about socialism and liberalism as a whole, is that it's SO easy to fall prey to. Who doesn't want equal wealth? Who doesn't want everything to be fair for all? Capitalists are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to spreading our ideaology. For example, in order to explain why Nationalized Health Care can be bad requires a long winded explanation about taxes, waste, incentive and what not. Where as an advocate of such a program only has to say "free health care" to get people thinking positively about it.

 

What I don't get is that Socialism isn't just something thought by little kids, it's preached and preached heavily by my professors and just about every teacher I've ever had. I can't believe an idea so childish can be so "perfect" in the eyes of these so called "enlightened intellectuals."

[Guest DrTom]

Human greed and ambition kept socialism from working but it could still work.

Give it up. Even the alchemist knew when he was defeated.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

I dunno, Sweden seems to be doing pretty well since they've had their super-socialistic scheme set up back in the 1920s.

 

Kotzenjunge

Tries to Help Idiots Who Might not Deserve it

[Guest MrRant]

Human greed and ambition kept socialism from working but it could still work.

Give it up. Even the alchemist knew when he was defeated.

Hmmm... so all my experiments have gone to waste.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Wasn't there some tax cuts or something which went really badly or was I misinformed?

The tax cuts would of worked had the Clinton/Gore administration not cooked the books by 30%, which is part of the reason why the economy is in its current shape.

 

As I've stated countless times, the economy is in excellent shape, and the tax cuts have only been beneficial. Mary Mostert's recent column backs up this fact with unemployment figures from the Department of Labor:

 

"After 9-11, unemployment began to rise and was at 8.9 million by January 2002.

Since then it has been coming down. By August 2002 it was down to 8.1 million, which is lower than it was in January 1996 when the media was telling us the "Clinton economy" was booming.

There are twelve million more people employed today than in January 1996 when President Clinton announced in his State of the Union speech: "Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three decades."

There are an amazing 2 million more Americans employed in September 2002, in spite of the terrorist attacks, than in January 2001."

 

Again: never ever trust anything a Democrat says.

[Guest Samurai_Goat]

Eh, a lot of people assume if the 'market goes down, the economy is bad. Few people realize that the market was a bit overinflated, and needed to be taken down a notch or two. Nothing really too bad.