We Should Learn from Socialism’s Collapse
Posted: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com
We would all be wise to take warning from the recent events in Greece that have led to jitters in our stock market as well as markets around the world. The problems in Greece, of course, were caused created by socialism.
Too many people were getting too many freebies off the backs of too few others. There was no way that such a system could sustain itself. It was doomed from the beginning. It was just a matter of time before it would begin to collapse. The chickens are now coming home to roost.
Of course, Greece is not the only country that has linked its fate to this kind of socialism. It was adopted by the majority of Europe decades ago. Therefore, the economic crisis in Greece is likely to soon spread throughout most of the continent.
Unfortunately, during the last decade, the U.S. has begun to slouch in that direction as well. If we don't turn back now, we are destined to meet the same fate as Greece and most of the remainder of Europe. We need to flatly reject all the tenets of socialism and return to the core capitalistic values of our forefathers. But we need to begin soon. Time is not on our side.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Hi Terry, it's not socialism that we have to worry about but conservatism regarding the fate of our families. (New article - WW IV - Ominous Signs). Also, China seems to be doing okay, as are many socialistic countries.E., Greece is just the first shoe to drop. The problems Greece is having will spread across Europe sooner or later. And, yes, it will eventually spread to China. Socialism is unsustainable, as most of us free-marketers have been warning for years. Hopefully, the U.S. will learn from the mistakes of others.Terry, not sure how socialism equates with overspending. Our bloated military budget consumes over half of our budget, and expenditures for the military exceed twenty times the expenditure of the next closest country. WW IV is not far off. You are a businessman, wouldn't you say that an all out nuclear war will certainly be a big blow to capitalism, more so than a few social programs? All theorized in my new article "WW IV- Ominous Signs"Best eYou're not sure how socialism equates to overspending? I said it in the article and I'll repeat it here: Too many people get too many freebies off the backs of too few others, so the government runs out of money because expenditures cannot keep pace with revenues. That's a simple concept that even a child could understand.What is this about WW IV? How did I miss WW III? Wasn't it supposed to be the end of the world as we know it? I don't know about you, but I feel fine (my aplogies to R.E.M.). At any rate, there's no need to be concerned about a nuclear war. I'm here to tell you it won't happen. You would do well to ignore the alarmists.Terry, you didn't address the bloated military. Or are guns sacrosanct and butter meaningless in conservative eyes? This follows my theory on WW IV you know.
Wasn't Christ and his disciples way of life socialistic? Communal? "All for one type of thing?" BTW - WW IV is a statement of the ultimate war - the end of civilization, the end of history. WW numbers will no longer have any meaning.Yes, the bloated military is a concern to me, but mainly for financial and budget reasons. Wars don't get started because of bloated militaries, they get started because of wacky people and organizations like Mahmoud Ahmadinajad (sp?) and the Taliban.Sure, Christ and his disciples, along with those from the early church, had a way of way that could be called socialistic. It would be intellectually dishonest to try to deny that. In fact, churches are supposed to be socialistic in how they treat their members as well as those outside the church. Jesus and his disciples advocated the voluntary sharing of one's earthly goods with others. Those who have are supposed to share with those who do not have so much. That's completely biblical.However, they never advocated a socialistic form of government or government-sponsored social justice, in which people were forced to share their wealth and defend the downtrodden. Was Jesus a capitalist then? Of course not. He wasn't concerned with worldly governments. He also wasn't concerned about how people fared during their brief existence on this earth. He didn't care whether someone was rich or poor, healthy or diseased, pretty or ugly, famous or infamous, priviledged or deprived, free or slave. His concern was and is getting people ready for the world to come. What's 100 years on this earth compared to eternity?BTW, I'm not concerned any man-made war putting an end to civilization. The world will end when Jesus returns and brings it to an end - not a minure before, not minute after. Though the world my seem chaotic, God is still on his throne and He is still in control of all things.I won’t respond to your religious pontifications, those are your concerns. However, your opinion that Christ’s life ( as it has allegedly been depicted in the opinions of the church) was not to be followed by us, or his words such as love your neighbor, but we are just supposed to fall down in worship has a ton of discrepancies too voluminous to get into here. I’ll see if I can muster up some energy for an article about religious manipulation to satisfy mammon. Hey, I just thought of a title, “Is your religion Working for You - Really?” Keep an eye out for it, it will be lengthy, maybe two parts.Regarding socialism and the military, David Wood from Politics Daily said, “One key problem is the military's skyrocketing personnel costs -- for pay, health care and generous benefits. The cost of the military's health insurance, whose premiums haven't been raised since 1995, is "eating us alive,'' Gates has said. Pay is another driver of rising costs. Both the Pentagon and Congress have lavished generous annual raises on military personnel well above increases for comparable civilian pay and wages.This year, an Army private first class, unmarried and in the first year of his or her service, will draw $35,948 in pay with $3,355.43 of that tax-free. That's not counting a slew of other benefits, ranging from reduced-cost health care to free college courses. In contrast, the average male wage earner, 16-24 years old, earns $24,596, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Standards."How does this military expenditure of personnel that David mentions fundamentally differ from socialism other than a precarious idealism of a human being “fighting” for our country (fighting whom?) opposed to a stereotypical welfare mother with 30 kids?I’m sure there were those who thought WW I and WW II could never happen, but economics proved otherwise and lots of people were probably surprised.Regarding socialism, to put it in a more understandable context, what you personally spend on your body could be directly associated with what the government spends on social programs. Businessmen would love to take the money they have to spend on food, housing, clothing, their wife and kids, and their health care and use it all for investment, but then the body dies or becomes ill.Historically when the poor have been forgotten, they become subject to a strong leader such as Hitler, and war results. Poverty, resulting from concentrated capital, is a precursor for war, and must be avoided at all costs because war is more disruptive than any other force in civilization. In the past, we could expect an economic boom after a war, but this time, just as we used nuclear weapons to defeat a stubborn adversary in WW II, any country that feels it is losing the next war will unleash their arsenal of nukes as well. The end!
BTW, as a Christian, since you don't believe that a nuclear war will happen, how will Armageddon come about - Jesus decending from the clouds and killing all the non-believers :)
Best.....eI won’t respond to your pontifications about the military and the forms of worldly government that you like and dislike, as I've already stated my position on those matters. Besides, those are your concern. However, when or where did I say "that Christ’s life was not to be followed by us, or his words such as love your neighbor ..."? Show me a quote from something I've said or written .... ever!I do not appreciate being misquoted and having words put in my mouth. I just finished saying that the church and its members are supposed to follow Jesus' example of sharing with others. And that includes the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself." I've always advocated it. It's the Christian way of life. But because I don't advocate that being done via government coercion, you seem to think it doesn't count.BTW, at the end of the world, it will be destroyed by fire - from God. Don't you ever read the Bible?Terry, what is Government except us?Okay, if that's true, then how can we have separation of church and state (government)? Separation of church and us? How much sense does that make?It think it's quite interesting that those who scream the loudest about separation of church and state when it comes to stuff like abortion, prayer, and gay rights, are some of the same people who also push the hardest for government-sponsored social justice based on the teachings of ..... Jesus! Huh? You can't have it both ways.Here are two examples:1) I recently saw Michael Moore being interviewed by Larry King on CNN. Shortly into the interview, Moore criticized several Catholic legislators for allowing their religious views to influence their votes on abortion. But later in that same interview, Moore cited the teachings of Jesus as a reason that politicians should vote in favor of the social justice agenda.2) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently called for ministers to advocate from the pulpit for the repeal of Arizona's new immigration law . However, when various conservative ministers were advocating from the pulpit in favor of that anti-gay-marriage amendment in California, she felt that this was inappropriate (and possibly illegal) politicking on the part of those churches, and that their tax-free status should be re-evaluated.Liberals want to have it both way in other areas as well. For example, they believe in racial profiling when it comes Affirmative Action but not when it comes to law enforcement. Go figure!Separation of church and state guarantees individual freedoms, and it makes perfect sense to all except those who push for a theocratic government. Simple. Which I guess would be good if it were Buddhist!America is based on individual freedoms not theocratic principles. If you want to look at a theocracy, look at the Taliban. If you want theocracy, then lets go Buddhist! How about that? The Abrahamic religions seem to be the ones who start wars and crusades over religion.Maybe it’s time for a change. Maybe I should start mentioning Buddha and what he said in all my articles like Christians do about Jesus. What do you think? The Buddhist Bible is about 20 volumes bigger than the Christian bible, so I could quote a million things. And it’s all true, because the Buddha never lied! How about that? Any advice that I could help you with?Not sure what Michael Moore was saying, but the fact is that nobody really knows what Christ said, or if he ever existed as depicted. Mostly hearsay from one disciple 60 years after Christ’s death. Christ may have been a straw man for the fledgling church needed to boost their ratings and fulfill a prophecy. Who knows for sure?Regarding ministers politicizing from the pulpit, that only waters down the religion and is a sure sign that the church is in its death throes. Real meaning is gone.It’s funny. When I was a Catholic, I always thought that Christ was trying to teach us that if we lived like he did, simply, no business dealings, simple work and a simple life full of compassion and love for everyone, that was the door to salvation. But that is not true anymore. The door to salvation is . . . whatever trips your fancy. Now, Christ is seen a freak of sorts and not a good example to follow. Just a God. I must admit, I’m glad I woke up when I did and left the church!But everyone is free in this country to speak their mind and practice the religion they choose to, including Muslims. It’s never going back to lily white America. Those days are long gone, but like dogs with bones, some people don’t get it and try to hang on. All about money and control, power and influence, Nothing to do with Jesus.This racist and religious supremacy struggle - Christian, Jew, Muslim - will be a major cause of WW IV, just as it’s been major causes of millions of deaths in the past, along with the abject poverty created by a situation where wealth is top heavy and unwilling to share with others not as fortunate. I believe if you look deep inside, and according to your articles, you will admit that some of these feelings strike home. Look at the end results of this kind of hostility. It’s nothing about which Jesus professed. It’s nothing about Jesus at all, only selfishness and greed.Affirmative action and law enforcement (I assume you are referring to racial; profiling in Arizona?) are different in one major way; affirmative action is hated by whites, and racial profiling is loved by whites. Again, an attitude that is going to lead to mass hatred and insanity that only needs the slightest of hair triggers internationally to set it off. Then boom.Look how stupidly incensed this hate contingent became over Iraq? This is the mentality we are dealing with. No peace, no ease, no compassion, only “It’s my way or the highway.” Iraq was really successful wasn’t it? Do you realize how much Iraq cost us just in money? Talk about socialism breaking the bank, the military is killing us, and for what?Okay Terry, I think I covered all of your responses. Your turn!Best …..e :)E, you’re completely ducking the issue by only wanting to talk about separation of church as it relates to what conservatives try to do. However I’m now giving you a chance to redeem yourself and show, once and for all, where you really stand on this issue. Repeat the following and sign your name to it:“If it’s wrong for conservative Christians to violate the separation of church and state by trying to get the government to allow prayer in schools and ban such things as abortion and gay marriage, then it’s equally wrong for liberal Christians to violate the separation of church and state by attempting to get the government to accomplish social justice based on the teachings of Jesus”.Go ahead. I’m waiting. Repeat the exact words in the quotation marks above and type your name right below them.If you can’t do this, then please accept the “hypocrite” label and wear it proudly.Is that the best you got? C’mon Terry, it seems that our conversations always come down to typical conservative tactics of some kind if gimmick like deflecting the issue to another issue. Look, if you are going to debate, know what you are doing. Most are privy to fallacious arguments and there are at least four in your comment. If you don’t know what they are, look them up: Argument by generalization, Non sequitur, Ad hominem, and the most obvious; the Complex question fallacy.Look, Separation of church and state is a fact, backed by court cases, backed by a government founded on the principles of Freedom from someone else’s idea of religion. Get over it.And social justice is not based on your Jesus, it's based on universal human empathy and compassion that existed long before Jesus did. Like the Buddha for example who was the personification of compassion.Jesus is just your belief, not my belief, and the world does not revolve around Jesus as a handful of southern states here in America would like to think. Christianity is just one belief among thousands, therefore the whole Jesus thing has no place in public schools where many of my Buddhist and Asian friend's kids go. Send your kids to Catholic or Jehovah schools if you want them to pray at school. My Buddhist friends pray at their temple, and go to school to become educated, not indoctrinated.Best…..eYep, that's what I thought. :-)
Too bad we can't learn before it is implemented even more here - back in the "good old days" when a company produced an undesirable product or the unions got too greedy the company folded. So, why the government take overs at tax payer's expense. Our money is not backed by gold and probably isn't worth the paper it is printed on - US is a "ring of fire" nation just like Greece - looks like it is just a matter of time. Scary thought.Hi Marijo. I believe that you are suggesting that the government should have allowed the financial system to fail. I agree. Of course we would not now be in a recovery and all of our savings would be gone as the banks would have failed and the FDIC would have run out of money. We wouldn't have wanted to bail anyone out, even the FDIC. Wall Street would have collapsed, our stocks, investments, and life savings all worthless.World financial systems would have collapsed, (maybe not China that has a good control on their economy because they are communist), our military would have been gutted, (which is way overbloated anyway) and unemployment would be at 30% or greater. AIG and many other firms would go under, including Freddie and Fannie, causing a world wide depression lasting probably ten to fifteen years.Of course, since we are merely surviving on credit anyhow, this is all going to happen in the near future regardless. There is no money for anymore bailouts. So get ready.
It will be a great time to reestablish our religious principles which have been corroded by mammon. A chance to help each other regardless of what religion or color we are. Kind of a rebirth.
Best.....eI understand that Australia is debt free - maybe we could learn something from them? I have a friend there and several months before it became evident that things were not doing well here Australia froze evenyone's accounts - she couldn't get her saved $$ for a plane ticket to come over in 2009 - she had to do a Christmas club acct (which they expected them to remove) and took it out in Dec to get ticket for this June. She's coming soon! But her other savings acct is still frozen as far as I know.... I think we blew it when we went off the gold standard but I don't pretend to understand finance that well - only know if I print up money in my basement I get thrown in jail GRINAustralia is cool, have friends there as well in Perth on the west coast. Set up similar to UK with nationalized health care but with very small population, maybe the population of new York City in a country the size of U.S.
Good article Terry--I would agree with everything you say and hope we remember to strive for values and compassion in the journey you mention.Steve, thanks for reading and commenting.
Allowing the banks to fail would have been grand! The investment made to prop up the banks which continue to pocket the money which led to the collapse of the economy in the first place, should have been spent totally on infrastructure which then would have gone back into the economy to reinvigorate it, much in the same way as it did after the depression.
Although many argue that this was not the impetus that created the recovery, the result can not be argued.
Our system of government which is totally funded by big business at the behest of our Supreme Court, which is all the ordinary folks had to rely on, as their pockets are not near deep enough to compete with mega business is what prevented this from occurring and what will continue to drive our economy into deeper depression and eventually the unrest as eluded to by Mr. Rock.
Those of you that are allowed just enough success to keep you advocating for our true supreme rulers will eventually feel the pinch and have no choice other than to join the cause of justice for all and not just those able to afford it.
Religion is just the smokescreen used to pacify the masses into believing they have some control and to keep a unified citizenry from rising up against the God's of uncontrolled capitalism.So, David, are we to understand that you are not a capitalist?No, capitalism, socialism, or any other ism that you choose is fine and workable as long as is with democracy or any other form of government is workable under the restraint of self discipline. Greed is what causes these otherwise well intentioned ism's to spiral out of control and lean toward the advancement of a self serving few, which is what has happened in the case of America's economy and most other empires of the world.Oh, so it's greed and that nasty religion stuff that are at fault?
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