Socialism Marches

Capitalism Progresses.  There's a difference.

The world economic upheaval continues.  It seems to TCD, that part of the problem develops from countries having too many bills and not enough money to pay those bills.  (I know, our economic prowess is stunning).  So investors don't like those countries and they decide to leave them (physically and financially) when those countries try to take more and more of their money.  So, the countries wind up in an even worse position to pay said bills.  Some of those countries include:

France, Greece and Spain (the U.S. doesn't fit here because we just print more money... although... POTUS is promising to raise taxes on the wealthy 10% so they are paying more than they currently are... which is 70% of the bill).  Ok, ok, add us to the list but we're still not socialist.

So what to do when you have no money?  Obviously, you decide "austerity measures" are cruel because they sound cruel and you go right on spending money. Excellent plan! How could this happen?  In short, socialism (or socialist theory rather).

 

There are various kinds of Socialism.  There is small socialism like when the government taxes you at a greater percentage than your neighbor (and gives that money to Amtrak in the form of subsidies for four decades without them ever making a profit)...  And then there is great big Socialism like when the government takes everything you own and tells you that you don't deserve more than others simply by  virtue of working harder.... and calls you scum in the process.  (For the record, to get more under Big Socialism, you must be a leader in the Socialist Working Party!  Like these guys in China, who are technically communists but there is no major distinction between Communism and Socialism when you get to the far end of the spectrum.)

{More After The Jump}

And so, we have Greece, France and Spain (and kind of us maybe).  The modern day "Robin Hood Moron Triplets" run amok.  Only in those countries, the government actually created the poverty (Robin Hood didn't do that) and now, at the same time, they claim they will rescue citizens from poverty ("Take from the rich and give to the poor" they cry!) by simply ignoring contracts, property rights and any form of spending cuts.

Therefore, we shall have a European Economic Experiment.  Both France and Britain are similarly situated in terms of economics right now (that is, their economies suck).  Brittan has declared they will tighten their belts to reach solvency.  France has said "Non, je n'aime pas FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY" and will go on spending... and somehow still reach solvency.  It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming years between austerity measured countries like Germany and Brittan (though I doubt the UK's  commitment) and France (who I doubt generally).  We will come back to this in the future to see if any real world measurables exist between the different approaches.

The point of all of this is not that we shouldn't help others.  In fact it's very much the opposite.  The point is, the government does a terrible job, generally, of helping others (see: DMV or Amtrak) and we can do a better job ourselves, privately.  When the government takes more from you, you have less to do with as you please; like tithing or donating to non-profits that actually produce results or spending on your own children.  Or any number of uses that don't result in government waste and less individual autonomy.  Control through power is bad but control through coercion may actually be worse (the Master always prefers the mindless servant over the beaten servant!).  An so, to wit, ett'ip Greece.  

The Greeks recently elected Neo-Nazis because they advanced socialist ideas of taking from some to spend on others.  Yes, openly declared racists can win elections if they promise to give more to the people by taking away from less popular folks. 

ARMAGEDDON UPDATE:  The sun is going to betray us and people are eating babies.  Literally, they are eating deceased children.  Moloch would be proud.   This world is insane.