I found this very interesting article written by two Notre Dame university business professors. It is short and succinct but very interesting considering Notre Dame was so heavily embroiled in the controversy of President Obama speaking to last year's graduating class (though for other reasons than his marxist outlook).
This line just shot out right at me. "But, if a person is not responsible for his own well-being, how can we expect him to take responsibility for the well-being of others?"
I have yet to meet a socialist who wasn't either funded by a capitalist or used capitalist activities to build the wealth to afford their socialist outlook.
Rehabber · Tucson, AZ · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 802 votes
16y
"The US is ranked as one of the lowest in education among the industrial nations, not all of which are considered "capitalist" the way US is."
Liberal BS! This is completely in accurate from many standpoints the first being the US education system ranks very high when compared to countries who provide well-rounded or multi-disciplined educational systems.
We also provide many for-profit educational opportunities giving many people chances to re-educate, retrain, or reinvent themselves.
Lastly, in many third-world and other developing countries, little education is offered and often ar not accounted for in statistics. For instance, in India, china, Pakistan, many south american countries, there will be a maximum of one child born to a family that will be allowed to even seek an education.
Lastly, I have a friend who is a doctor who holds an administrative position with the local college of medicine. And a statistic which is hardly ever discussed is nearly 30% of the student are foreign born. A high percentage of them are from northern european countries.
In talking with many of them, they do not want to return to their countries and often times marry in order to stay here.
In fact, one nurse, whom got pregnant actually returned to finland to have her baby and then returned here and eventually married the father.
The reason is because the government will not only pay for the birth expense but would also pay her for six months to sit on her ***.
If our education system is so lowly, then why are our colleges booming with foreign students?
Reality is, many people in socialist countries dream to be able to have the freedoms we take for granted here.
Many Americans and wannabe socialists idealize these countries when in fact, many citizens in these countries would gladly trade places with them.
I say some of us should set-up a socialist / capitalist foregin exchange website inviting Americans who want government run healtcare, 60% income tax, 17% interest rates, can trade places with budding capitalists in non-capilistic countries.
Government run healthcare is ridiculous... They can't even run the VA medical system, what makes liberals think they can run a health system 100 times larger?
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
16y
Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:
10-15% of collected revenue...
But isn't that a completely arbitrary number?
Some would argue that that's WAY TOO MUCH, and that only a socialist nation would tax their citizens that much, because we only really need enough tax money to provide "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," not education and all that other nonsense...
And some would argue that that's WAY TOO LITTLE, and that if we're not providing everyone all the same benefits -- include welfare, cars, and houses even to the lazy good-for-nothings -- then we're just a dispassionate nation of greedy capitalists.
Most of us would fall in the middle, but how do you determine exactly what the right amount is or isn't...and at what point do we feel that the country has gone from capitalist to socialist? Is it at 16% marginal tax rate? 20%? 50%?
Once again, my point is that we're on a broad spectrum, and the typical American could fall anyone on a wide range in that spectrum...who should be making these tough decisions about what is too little and what is too much?
Investor · Mableton, GA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 465 votes
16y
One think I would agree is that it is a fine line between access regulations and too little of it.
Apply too much regulations, and you stifle innovation. Too little and you let the greed go wild
It is definitely a balancing act....
Hey! I just found this forum article by accident over the internet and I just had to take part in this. I actually created this whole account of mine just for this... conversation... So I only wanted to know that what are they teaching you people over there in the US? Who has told you that Finland is a socialist country? :D Finland is a western, capitalistic country. Maybe not as badly corrupted as United States but capitalistic nevertheless. And about the suicide rates... The long, cold, dark winters and falls really do have a bad habit of affecting people's mood and make them to get easily depressed over more or less trivial things... It's not like Finland is perfect, but it's true that it is one of the best succeeding countries in the world at the moment.
Attorney · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2008 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
16y
Welcome Heidi. I can understand that you love your country and respect that. Do you mind clarifying the tax burden on the individual that is implemented in Finland? Is it really free trade when you have to give up that much profit?
Investor · Mableton, GA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 465 votes
16y
Got to hand it to Heidi. Nokia is a Finish company as well as many well-developed software companies. (I guess those cold dark days of the winter are perfect for computer programmers... :lol: )