Victims of Communism

[Revoltingest]

Seriously? In the UK, a very wealthy very capitalist nation. Millions of children are in poverty. Thousands use food banks and other charities daily. Schools are crumbling and falling apart...

Capitalism isn't a guarantee that the public
will elect a government that spends taxpayer
money on effective social spending.
It only offers the potential to do that, eg, the
Scandinavian model.
Socialism differs in that it creates poverty for
all, not just the poor.
I was channeling Yogi Berra there (not Yogi Bear).

 

[Little Dragon]

Capitalism isn't a guarantee that the public
will elect a government that spends money
to spend taxpayer money on effective social
spending. It only offers the potential to do
that, eg, the Scandinavian model.

Oh that's ok then, Capitalism is functional and a benefit to all if properly managed and regulated and planned for.
That's also how I would see Socialism though.

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm not a jerk.

Not yet.
But with diligence & training, great you will be.

Imma *****.
But you kind of remind of a client I had, in that he said he's bad and ornery and some mean tough dude but he'd barely harm a fly.
Amd no, no, no I don't do that padawan thing solely because of the rat tail haircut you have to have.

That's Jediism.
Jerkism allows any haircut you want.
Although mullets are frowned upon.

And it's for those dull, boring, humanness denying Jedi goody two shoes.
And ya just aint the biggest jerk here. Worst smelling as long the dogs and bear aren't wet, but there are those more deserving to be called the most revoltinest.

Jerks are in touch with their dark side.

 

[Little Dragon]

Although mullets are frowned upon.

As they should be.

 

[Revoltingest]

Oh that's ok then, Capitalism is functional and a benefit to all if properly managed and regulated and planned for.
That's also how I would see Socialism though.

In reality socialism has a worse record.
I attribute it to a fundamental of the system, ie,
the necessity of a far more powerful government
(than with capitalism) to command the economy,
(rather than to merely regulate business activity),
& to police people to curb private entrepreneurial
tendencies. This inexorably leads to authoritarianism
because leaders cannot resist the temptations of
absolute power.
And of course, this central control over the means
of production quells individual initiative & experimentation
necessary for improvement & coping with vagaries
of weather, hence the famines being worse than
they'd otherwise be under a decentralized system.

One can imagine a socialist system that works as
well or better than capitalism, but this isn't
empirically demonstrable. And from a system
stability perspective, it's more likely to be
relatively oppressive & poor.

 

[Revoltingest]

As they should be.

Don't tell that to Brock Samson.

 

[Little Dragon]

This inexorably leads to authoritarianism
because leaders cannot resist the temptations of
absolute power.

I agree. This is why I advocate that if a communist system is to work, then a lot of decision making, especially with regard to economic planning and wealth distribution et al, has to be taken out of human hands. Of course, I am referring to AI. Futuristically.

 

[Little Dragon]

One can imagine a socialist system that works as
well or better than capitalism, but this isn't
empirically demonstrable.

Every hunter gatherer tribe on the planet, essentially operates a collectivist economic system.

It can be done.

 

[Nicholas]

Two of my threads have this same title VOC - perhaps they could be combined - somewhere.