Socialism

[Privateerkev]

Every extreme is wrong you always have to find the balance, but I don't think that doing the good thing is something that should be regulated by anyone, most of all the government because governments tend to do poorly at everything they do, they have the job and what they are supposed to be doing. Would you trust them with the distribution of food, the market does it much much better.

No, I do not trust the market to distribute food. I watch too many miss out on getting food when we can produce more than enough to feed everyone.

I do not believe you should pay for what you need. It just seems wrong to me.

[HoreTore]

No, I do not trust the market to distribute food. I watch too many miss out on getting food when we can produce more than enough to feed everyone.

The current world situation is a good example. We lack food, and what does the market do? Do they focus on mass-producing as much as possible, to make sure that people can afford it? Nope, some of them even hold food back and wait for the price to increase even more. Meanwhile, millions of people are starving simply because they can't afford to buy enough food...

[Incongruous]

Socialism is an idea very much close to that of Anarchism, both disagree with the Liberal belief that property is sacrosanct and a must for the liberty of men. However they differ in that, whereas socialism curbs individual rights (according to Kropotkin) in order to achieve it's goal of a classless society, Anarchism is something which will happen naturally at the end of capitalism, the final stage of mans search for liberty and freedom. In this form Kropotkin claimed some ideological realtionship with Liberals. However socialists like Marx tended to view with the scorn that much older of underclasses, the peasant and the poor farmer, workers were much more heroic. But its meaning has been changed over the years. Just as Liberalism has been reformed beyond all recognition, no longer a light for individual liberty it has been worked into simply another way to make the rich richer and keep the poor down.

In the end its just another ideology, and failed to stand up to reality.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

In the end its just another ideology, and failed to stand up to reality.

This post (or at least this sentence) has just been endorsed by THE MARTIAN.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Capitalism funnels money to a select few by exploiting cheap labor. It is an engine for economic growth but it requires growth to expand for the rest of time. This simply can not be sustained forever.

That's nonsensical, I'm afraid.

Capitalism operates off of 3 assumptions;

1.) That there is an unlimited supply of resources

Wow, that's wrong. The whole point of capitalism is that there are limited resources of everything - goods, labor, capital, and you have to decide what you want to prioritize.

2.) That there is an unlimited number of markets

I don't see how you can leap to that conclusion.

3.) That any enviromental damage can be repaired.

Again, wrong. Perhaps we should look and see whether the Soviets or the USA had the better environmental record.

No, I do not trust the market to distribute food.

It is protectionism and moronic subsidies for biofuels that's led to this crisis. Europe and the USA have large amounts of protection for agriculture, and large subsidies designed to take fields from growing food to growing less efficient than crude oil fuel so some yuppies can feel good about themselves. The question is, why oh why would we trust something so vital as the world's food supply to a bunch of bickering idiot governments?

I do not believe you should pay for what you need. It just seems wrong to me.

Food does not rain down like mana from heavens. Why should the people who grow food not be compensated? It's ok to steal it if we need it? That's what not paying for something is called. Instead, should farmers, and everyone, not be compensated according to the most just system available, capitalism?

Capitalism - that is, people being free to live as they want - provides the greatest benefit to everyone. If you cannot decide what wage you will work for, or what money you will accept for a good, then you are no better than a slave.

CR