The benefits of socialism.
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
George has more evidence for the OP.
January 10, 2010
Liberalism is What is Killing California
By George Will
WASHINGTON -- Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a hero to the American left, partly because of his 1939 anti-war novel "Johnny Got His Gun." Trumbo's title modified the lyric "Johnny get your gun" from the World War I song "Over There." Trumbo's "Johnny" is horribly maimed in that war. Now we need a novel titled "Berkeley Got Its Liberalism." Pending that, we have Tad Friend's report, in the Jan. 4 New Yorker, on maimed Berkeley.
RealClearPolitics - Liberalism is What is Killing California
January 10, 2010
Liberalism is What is Killing California
By George Will
WASHINGTON -- Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a hero to the American left, partly because of his 1939 anti-war novel "Johnny Got His Gun." Trumbo's title modified the lyric "Johnny get your gun" from the World War I song "Over There." Trumbo's "Johnny" is horribly maimed in that war. Now we need a novel titled "Berkeley Got Its Liberalism." Pending that, we have Tad Friend's report, in the Jan. 4 New Yorker, on maimed Berkeley.
RealClearPolitics - Liberalism is What is Killing California
Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year
Sat, Jan 9 2010
* Chavez popularity could suffer after devaluation
* Venezuelans rush to shops anticipating price hikes
* Inflation will jump this year
By Frank Jack Daniel and Eyanir Chinea
CARACAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelans rushed to the shops on Saturday, fearful of price rises after a currency devaluation that will let President Hugo Chavez boost government spending ahead of an election but feeds opposition charges of economic mismanagement.
UPDATE 1-Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year | Reuters
Becoming more and more a failed state. I fear the citizens will revolt and then Chavez will unleash the army, a la Castro, his hero.
Sat, Jan 9 2010
* Chavez popularity could suffer after devaluation
* Venezuelans rush to shops anticipating price hikes
* Inflation will jump this year
By Frank Jack Daniel and Eyanir Chinea
CARACAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelans rushed to the shops on Saturday, fearful of price rises after a currency devaluation that will let President Hugo Chavez boost government spending ahead of an election but feeds opposition charges of economic mismanagement.
UPDATE 1-Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year | Reuters
Becoming more and more a failed state. I fear the citizens will revolt and then Chavez will unleash the army, a la Castro, his hero.
Someone will stage a coup and some rabid right-wing dictator will get in. Righties will cheer. Lefties will cry - and the whole cycle repeats itself again - if some modern United Fruit doesn't call in the Marines.... Banana republics, eh?
Right.
Germany is hardly the sunniest country around and loads of homes have panels on their roofs. For industries, it's a bit impractical to not rely on other forms of energy but solar energy can lessen the practise of relying on just one source.
We rely a little on solar and a little on our own hydro source from the creek and if I can figure out a way to rig a geothermal setup, we'll do that eventually.
We don't sell energy to the power company here because they determine the price. After years of telling us the price we will pay for their power, they get to determine what price they'll pay for ours? I think not.
I see nothing wrong with a mix of forms of societal philosophies. I think only idiots rely solely on one form simply because we are humans. Whatever we develop has faults. The best we can do is take what is good from all forms and chuck the rest in the dustbin. Obviously, what is strictly socialistic doesn't work any better than strictly capitalistic. They are both deeply flawed in that neither takes into consideration human character flaws.
Good for you, Les...a breath of common sense, in my view. No matter what we say, we're really all following a mix of both, in various ratios.
The military industrial complex loves it when they are the beneficiaries of government sponsored socialism.
''Liberalism is What is Killing California''
For that you can thank REPUBLICAN Arnie Schwarzeneggar.
For that you can thank REPUBLICAN Arnie Schwarzeneggar.
Solar, tidal, thermal, wind etc. just can produce so much power. Nuclear is the only source that can produce and replace coal in the foreseeable future. I am not referring to today's impoverished little countries (who is going to pay for there power), it is China, Russia, India, Indonesia and the U.S. that have to change to effect anything now and slow down the inevitable. We cannot wait another 50-100 years, damage will have been done by then.
Read your history of California a little better. It all started with this. Poor Arnie is stuck with what this did.
Proposition 1: Property Taxes: Contaminated Property. - California State Government
Not true. Solar thermal can provide baseload. It can provide power when the sun doesn't shine by storing the steam in large vaults (cheaper than batteries). Also, you're assuming that we achieve nothing in terms of improvements in energy efficiency. If we use energy more efficiently, then we don't need as much baseload. Integrated grids with many types of renewable can meet the demand. They tested this in Germany, who is miles ahead of nearly everyone in renewable development. They have a smart grid plan, which will reduce power consumption drastically.
The biggest waste of energy is transmission over long distances. the DC and AC battles of the past were won only because AC has the ability to be trnsmitted over long distances without excessive resistance. The best way to solve this is bring the power sources closer to where it is needed. The cost of electricty would plummet if there were no grid to maintain.
All thse projects are good ideas IF the industry and customers are close by.
The word 'socialist' has been absconded, largely by the right, to mean something that has nothing to do with with its original definition. In classic Marxist theorist, socialism would be the last gasp of tottering capitalism to placate the rebelling proletariate, while leaving its own privileges in tact.
The right has now appropriated the term to refer to any government agency in the economy, including tariffs, income equalization, progressive taxation, workplace and market regulation.
That is not socialism. It is the economic system that originated in France in the 18th Century under Louis XIV's economics minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert and especially under the first American Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. It was first articulated as a theory by Friedrich List in the 1840's, in the National System of Political Economy.
It precedes the development of socialist and communist theory by over a century and is to this day one the two antipodes of modern economics. The other is classic Economic Liberalism, first articulated by Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations in 1776. It is this latter that has held sway for the last 40 years and is now failing catastophically in free market ideology.
So in response to the original post, socialism (and communism) are proven failures.. dead ends in economic history. The outcome of the Free Enterprise system has yet to be determined... except what we have now ain't working.
The right has now appropriated the term to refer to any government agency in the economy, including tariffs, income equalization, progressive taxation, workplace and market regulation.
That is not socialism. It is the economic system that originated in France in the 18th Century under Louis XIV's economics minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert and especially under the first American Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. It was first articulated as a theory by Friedrich List in the 1840's, in the National System of Political Economy.
It precedes the development of socialist and communist theory by over a century and is to this day one the two antipodes of modern economics. The other is classic Economic Liberalism, first articulated by Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations in 1776. It is this latter that has held sway for the last 40 years and is now failing catastophically in free market ideology.
So in response to the original post, socialism (and communism) are proven failures.. dead ends in economic history. The outcome of the Free Enterprise system has yet to be determined... except what we have now ain't working.
Egg Zachary.
It works for us here and this area isn't overloaded with sunshine or wind. We have 0.24cubic feet per second of hydro license and the rest is supplied by solar. We don't sell to the power company because it thinks it has the right to set the price. We didn't ask for an unreasonable amount either, according to an engineer. If a neighbor wants they can pipe our excess over and we will give them a lot better rate than the power company does. The big demands for power are the mines, mills, etc. and they haven't grown so I would imagine their consumption drops as they become more efficient users. SWo what is left is private growing demand as we keep upping the population. Well, get these private homes working off different sources of energy and things get better.