Question US
Do you think that Socialism can work?
swifty March 25, 2008 21:19:50
- 16 answers
- Read all 76 comments
- +2 raves
From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need
See the following site for a good explanation of the various forms of government:
http://www.oicu2.com/afc/leftright.html
See the following site for a good explanation of the various forms of government:
http://www.oicu2.com/afc/leftright.html
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Yes
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ASSESSES THE WORLD'S HEALTH SYSTEMS
The World Health Organization has carried out the first ever analysis of the world’s health systems. Using five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states, it finds that France provides the best overall health care followed among major countries by Italy, Spain, Oman, Austria and Japan.
The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems.
Source: WHO World Health Report - See also Spreadsheet Details (731kb)
Rank View
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 ...
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ASSESSES THE WORLD'S HEALTH SYSTEMS
The World Health Organization has carried out the first ever analysis of the world’s health systems. Using five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states, it finds that France provides the best overall health care followed among major countries by Italy, Spain, Oman, Austria and Japan.
The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems.
Source: WHO World Health Report - See also Spreadsheet Details (731kb)
Rank View
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
51 Dominican Republic
52 Tunisia
53 Jamaica
54 Venezuela
55 Albania
56 Seychelles
57 Paraguay
58 South Korea
59 Senegal
60 Philippines
61 Mexico
62 Slovakia
63 Egypt
64 Kazakhstan
65 Uruguay
66 Hungary
67 Trinidad and Tobago
68 Saint Lucia
69 Belize
70 Turkey
71 Nicaragua
72 Belarus
73 Lithuania
74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
75 Argentina
76 Sri Lanka
77 Estonia
78 Guatemala
79 Ukraine
80 Solomon Islands
81 Algeria
82 Palau
83 Jordan
84 Mauritius
85 Grenada
86 Antigua and Barbuda
87 Libya
88 Bangladesh
89 Macedonia
90 Bosnia-Herzegovina
91 Lebanon
92 Indonesia
93 Iran
94 Bahamas
95 Panama
96 Fiji
97 Benin
98 Nauru
99 Romania
100 Saint Kitts and Nevis
101 Moldova
102 Bulgaria
103 Iraq
104 Armenia
105 Latvia
106 Yugoslavia
107 Cook Islands
108 Syria
109 Azerbaijan
110 Suriname
111 Ecuador
112 India
113 Cape Verde
114 Georgia
115 El Salvador
116 Tonga
117 Uzbekistan
118 Comoros
119 Samoa
120 Yemen
121 Niue
122 Pakistan
123 Micronesia
124 Bhutan
125 Brazil
126 Bolivia
127 Vanuatu
128 Guyana
129 Peru
130 Russia
131 Honduras
132 Burkina Faso
133 Sao Tome and Principe
134 Sudan
135 Ghana
136 Tuvalu
137 Ivory Coast
138 Haiti
139 Gabon
140 Kenya
141 Marshall Islands
142 Kiribati
143 Burundi
144 China
145 Mongolia
146 Gambia
147 Maldives
148 Papua New Guinea
149 Uganda
150 Nepal
151 Kyrgystan
152 Togo
153 Turkmenistan
154 Tajikistan
155 Zimbabwe
156 Tanzania
157 Djibouti
158 Eritrea
159 Madagascar
160 Vietnam
161 Guinea
162 Mauritania
163 Mali
164 Cameroon
165 Laos
166 Congo
167 North Korea
168 Namibia
169 Botswana
170 Niger
171 Equatorial Guinea
172 Rwanda
173 Afghanistan
174 Cambodia
175 South Africa
176 Guinea-Bissau
177 Swaziland
178 Chad
179 Somalia
180 Ethiopia
181 Angola
182 Zambia
183 Lesotho
184 Mozambique
185 Malawi
186 Liberia
187 Nigeria
188 Democratic Republic of the Congo
189 Central African Republic
190 Myanmar
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I'm not sure I would put all my faith in the W.H.O. either...
No
No
No
By this we can see some people can help society more by being Doctors, Police, engineers etc and some do not have the ability so they are the people like trash collectors, retail sales food workers whatever. All of these are noble and needed occupations. So that once every member has their needs met equally a place to live,medical benefits, food for each meal etc then those that contribute more can and should be able to et more, A bigger house a bigger TV, etc But all members need to have the basics met equally
Did you catch Sicko. You notice one that the hate was not out there the wau F9/11 was but also he gave a fair and balanced view of many other countries other than just the medical and we look shabby by comparison
In Ireland, everyone is entitled to a free higher education. Most of these socialist countries have great education policies. Here we have people coming out of college with student loans to the tune of $150K...and then can't even get a job when they graduate.
Yes
No
Yes
Ireland (wait times)
http://www.ireland.com/newspa...
Australia (health care reform? why?)
http://www.healthreform.org.au/
Canada (what, no room at the inn?)
http://www.canada.com/topics/...
New Zealand (high taxes AND a co-pay?)
http://www.everybody.co.nz/pa...
Just think, your health care will be as courteous and efficient as your post office.
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
I know socialism can work, because it has worked in Scandinavia for decades. That's not, of course what you web site calls socialism, but it is socialism of the democratic variety. Taxes are high; that's absolutely true, but services are enormous as well -- you get what you pay for. There's not a wide disparity between incomes, so if you want to become a billionaire, you wouldn't like living there, but then, your chances of getting that much money here are infinitestimal anyway. That's one of the ways Americans are constantly led to vote against their own economic best interersts -- by falsely assuming vaste riches are just around the corner.
Anyway -- you question was could it work; my answer was yes, because it has and still is working.
Were the Scandinavian nations forced to accept socialism or did they choose it for themselves?
The source site is a good reference for showing the various positions between socialism and capitalism, you may not understand it... especially the leap across the bottom of the circle which we are about to make.
However, I just don't agree that your site is terribly good; it's very, very biased towards libertarian type thought, and completely confounds socialism with stalinism -- what most call communism. They are simply not the same thing.
I also disagree with they way they use the circle, even though I myself have been arguing that the political spectrum is a circle, not a line, for many years now. However, if it's a circle, with a little arc cut out, then the two sides that are coming together at that arc have to be fairly similar, else the circle metaphor is meaningless. And that's what happens there -- it's meaningless -- it just a line someone bent into a circle.
If they were using the circle ima...
However, I just don't agree that your site is terribly good; it's very, very biased towards libertarian type thought, and completely confounds socialism with stalinism -- what most call communism. They are simply not the same thing.
I also disagree with they way they use the circle, even though I myself have been arguing that the political spectrum is a circle, not a line, for many years now. However, if it's a circle, with a little arc cut out, then the two sides that are coming together at that arc have to be fairly similar, else the circle metaphor is meaningless. And that's what happens there -- it's meaningless -- it just a line someone bent into a circle.
If they were using the circle image correctly, the left edge wouldn't be socialism, but left-wing anarchy, just as the right is correctly labeled right-wing anarchy. When you jump across that little arc, you don't even notice the difference much -- just as it should be. However, because, I suspect, they want to lay claim to the title anarcy, they refuse to recognize that anarchy has two political flavors -- the libertarian far right and the bomb-throwing far left. Both want no government, but for totally different reasons.
Small central government
Lower Taxes
Abolishment of the FED and the control of currency by elected officials
Abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service (Flat Tax)
Gold backed money
Strict adherence to the Constitution that founded this nation
Pretty "nutty" stuff;
Where did I say Scandinavia was a small country?
And I misread your comment about Scandinavia -- sorry -- mea culpa and all that.
And they chose socialism by electing the Social Democratic Party.
As far as people being happy in those nations, it is because they like what they have now. However, we have been a nation for over 200 years and their socialist experience is very new...
Not only that but they are not capable of helping (in a significant way) nations in desperation. I can't remember the last time I turned on the news and heard the reporters say, "the eyes of the nation are on Finland to see what sort of aid they will be providing for the tsunami relief in..."
Our capitalist government has provided wealth and safety to nations around the world for decades. We are now BROKE and I mean BROKE. So I guess we will have to be HEAVILY taxed to fund more social programs.
I have an idea, why don't all the citizens of the United States who are in favor of socialism, sign over 75% of their income, savings, retirement and savings to fund the social programs and let those of us who are capitalist take care of ourselves.
As for your last sentence....it's the working class that pays the most taxes as it is. I wouldn't mind paying more taxes to eliminate poverty and the provide healthcare.
We have an endless array of social programs in effect now and we are throwing billions of dollars at them. Why hasn't it helped?
You are not factoring in the culture differences between the United States and any of the other SMALL nations you have cited for success. (A dose of reality would be for you to watch Jerry Springer)
Canada pop. 33,400,000
Australia pop. 20,400,000
United States pop. 300,200,000
I think the healthcare in these countries is fine. I've had to be hospitalized and had to see a physician while in both Australia and Ireland. The service was great! And I went over the border to Canada to have lasix surgery for 1/4 of what it costs here.