Many people in this country wouldn't want to admit it, but we do live in a mixed economy: part Capitalism, part Socialism. That's the way it has always been here. Case in point: Sarah Palin. Citizens of Alaska are handed payments from the government by taxing the oil revenues of that state. Let me say that a different way: The natural resources of that region are taxed (by the same kind of Windfall Profits Tax that McCain opposes by the way,) and because those resources belong to the people, money is paid to them for it. If that same system is established in a foreign country, we call it Socialism. -I'm not criticizing the State Government of Alaska here; I'm just pointing out the socialim inherent in their economy to illustrate a larger point. For those who would like to read more about this aspect of the Alaskan economy, here is a good article from The Seattle Times entitled: "Windfall tax lets Alaska rake in billions from Big Oil."
In a properly regulated economy, such action is almost never warranted.While LIMITED socialism is not a bad thing (in industries and areas that private corporations cannot, will not or should not be allowed to operate),this action is not socialism as such, it is more government intervention to prevent further financial collapse. Had proper regulations still been in place to prevent bad loans from being taken out, this action would have been completely unneccessary. Regulation (and not over regulation) in which the rules are monitored and changed when necessary, is vital in preventing such things happening, because if there is no law against doing something that is harmful, then people will go ahead and do whatever it is that is harmful in order to get short term gain, like with Enron, they were using accounting tricks that would be felonies in most places, in order to inflate their own stock prices.
It is nowhere near as socialist as most of the rest of the Western World. There isn't even universal health cover in the US.
wow, I didn't know that. thanks for the link.
Many people in this country wouldn't want to admit it, but we do live in a mixed economy: part Capitalism, part Socialism. That's the way it has always been here. Case in point: Sarah Palin. Citizens of Alaska are handed payments from the government by taxing the oil revenues of that state. Let me say that a different way: The natural resources of that region are taxed (by the same kind of Windfall Profits Tax that McCain opposes by the way,) and because those resources belong to the people, money is paid to them for it. If that same system is established in a foreign country, we call it Socialism. -I'm not criticizing the State Government of Alaska here; I'm just pointing out the socialim inherent in their economy to illustrate a larger point. For those who would like to read more about this aspect of the Alaskan economy, here is a good article from The Seattle Times entitled: "Windfall tax lets Alaska rake in billions from Big Oil."
In a properly regulated economy, such action is almost never warranted.While LIMITED socialism is not a bad thing (in industries and areas that private corporations cannot, will not or should not be allowed to operate),this action is not socialism as such, it is more government intervention to prevent further financial collapse. Had proper regulations still been in place to prevent bad loans from being taken out, this action would have been completely unneccessary. Regulation (and not over regulation) in which the rules are monitored and changed when necessary, is vital in preventing such things happening, because if there is no law against doing something that is harmful, then people will go ahead and do whatever it is that is harmful in order to get short term gain, like with Enron, they were using accounting tricks that would be felonies in most places, in order to inflate their own stock prices.