Comments on: Socialism’s Not So Bad, and Maybe You Can Be Friends Too!

By: Blaise Vanderhorst

Blaise Vanderhorst — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:42:24 +0000

As a follower of Third Way economics, I do agree with some of socialism’s criticisms of the capitalist system, but I am still ultimately opposed to socialism. To me, socialism is merely a response to capitalism, in the long historical process of “injustice A emerges, injustice B emerges to fix injustice A, injustice C emerges to fix injustice C’s problems”. There has to be a better way!

I’m all in favor of living wages, and, as my upcoming piece on executive pay caps will discuss, some limit on the huge, bloated, obscene profits some of the more successful corporations turn, but I am ultimately in favor of private property and enterprise. The problem is not, in my view, too much wealth, but too much of it in the hands of too few. As G.K. Chesterton put it, “Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists.”

By: Jeff Nettleton

Jeff Nettleton — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:18:18 +0000

You’re right, I missed that bigtime Nathan. My apologies :].

By: Siegfried

Siegfried — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:07:25 +0000

Nathan and Jeff, my point is that there’s not much of a tie to concrete realities here. I guess I was expecting a more substantive consideration of it, whatever Jeff’s personal views. This is just a bit too fluffy.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:28:15 +0000

I think you may have missed my sarcasm.

By: Jeff Nettleton

Jeff Nettleton — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:14:47 +0000

I’m sorry, I think that you both missed the intent of my post. I am not suggesting anything, I’m merely explaining what socialism is and contrasting it to a minimal extent with the current system.

And to you Nathan, this is an opinion article, and you weren’t forced to read it. I apologize if you think I wasted your time, but you did choose to do so.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:27:16 +0000

I’m with Siegfried. If you don’t have a thorough plan, what you’re saying obviously isn’t even worth considering. You should probably just go away until you bother to take a weekend or so and design a plan to convert the world’s biggest economy to a socialist state. Next time, think before you post and don’t waste our time with your bothersome thinking.

By: Siegfried

Siegfried — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:22:52 +0000

Lots of pretty idealism here, Jeff, but how exactly do you imagine implementing it?