What Time’s “fix” involves is essentially the Sweden-ization of America, where the average working family would be handing over 65-70 percent of its earnings to government bureaucrats, with regulation-induced price increases eating up perhaps another ten percentage points. This all needs to be done at the very beginning of the next administration, moreover, for “putting off change won’t be an option much longer.” It is a perfect recipe for impoverishing America. FULL ARTICLE
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/8214/time-for-socialism/
TIME for Socialism?
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One can only hope that when tax rates reach 75% on Joe Average it will be enough to radicalize the middle class. I do not intend to let the government take well over half my labor and tell me how to live. I won’t. If there be eyes snooping here wondering just what that means, it means precisely what you think it means. People live in fear of people with “towels” on their heads. People live in fear that they or their parents will have to live on dog food. People live in fear that others mowing their lawns will usher in a future of nomadic cannibalism for mankind. I fear a time and place where most (if not all) my labor is taken from me by force and will have to meet a laundry list of bureaucratic demands if I am ever to get any of it back. Which is the most likely fear to come true?
It’s not just for me. I have two young children, and if THIS is what we are to expect very soon, what will be like for my children? We are coming very soon to a time of decision, yes. And the decision is are we to turn ourselves over as slaves to the State or are we going to undo these artificial interconnections and be free. Again, I don’t plan on going quietly, for me and my children.
Although Time magazine wants Swedish style taxes it most likely does not want Swedish levels of regulation as in some ways (although not in others) Sweden is less regulated than the United States.
The unthinking collectivism of Time magazine is the result of the standard school and college “education” of the people that Time Warner hires (and not just for Time magazine).
People are often astonished at the leftist political opinions of high corporate executives (of Time Warner, General Electric and so many other corporations) and of the so many billionaries (Warren Buffet, Marc Cuban, George Soros, Peter Lewis and so on), but there is nothing to be astonished over.
The “economic interests of the capitalist class” do not (contrary to Karl Marx) determine the political opinions of actual human beings – and one does not need to non Marxist “class theory” to explain them either (for example trying to work out how higher Capital Gains Tax would “really” benefit Warren B. – as long as one looks in a mirror whilst standing on one’s head).
They are leftists because that is the default position of modern Western culture – the position taught in the schools and the univerities and (therefore) presented in the main stream media. And for all of the collapse of Marxism in Eastern Europe (and so on) – the left has actually been getting stronger and stronger in schools and colleges. Dissent is much less common now than it was in the1980′s
We free market folk (righly) denounce George Walker Bush as a wild spending joke (I am useing gentle language) – but to the mainstream of academia and the media he is a free market extremist.
And as for John McCain ……
We denounce him for such things as McCain-Feingold, but to the left he is even more of a wicked “capitalist” than Bush.
After all, as Senator Obama is fond of pointing out, John McCain implies (both in his speeches and in his VOTES) implies that most government spending is pork – rather than the bedrock of “social justice” that all decent human beings (including “compassionate conservative” George Walker Bush) know it to be.
Senator McCain voted against such things as “no child left behind” and the Medicare extention, he voted against the 305 billion Dollar farm bill (and, unlike Bush, he was serious in his opposition), he opposed the ethenol subsidy (even in Iowa) and the government “insurance” scam (even in Florida).
In short McCain is totally out of step with the mainstream – and they know it.
“Why should we care, we hate the man anyway – for McCain-Feingold and for his support of the IRAQ WAR”.
You will care – after you have lived awhile in the People’s Republic that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi will create (with help from Senator Durbin and the rest).
But it will be too late then.
And (almost, but not quite, needless to say) this site may well be closed down as anti social justice “hate speech”.
The new judges will not be interested in a First Amendment defence of the site.
Prof. DiLorenzo notes that TIME’s Justin Fox says that “elimination of the mortgage-interest deduction … ‘costs the government about $80 billion a year.’” That makes sense only if one assumes that the money was the government’s in the first place.
Tax cuts SAVE. Tax increases COST. It’s not hard to understand. Geez…
Sweden, what a terrible place. it’s only 6th out of 155 nations in the human development index.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden#International_rankings
To Tim Kern: It’s important to remember that government budget deficits increased by low taxes are often monetized, thus leading to inflation and higher prices. A tax cut without a corresponding spending cut is wholly phantom in nature, as the bill will have to be paid in some form or another by somebody.
I’m not sure which is worse: being half-right or all wrong. On the one hand, tax cuts allow for business expansion. On the other, monetized budget deficits lead to artificially low interest rates that allow for unprofitable industries to continue operations and drive input prices higher, leading to higher prices for everyone. The tax burden is merely shifted, not cut, in such a scenario. Few people acknowledge this phenomenon. I consider myself to be paying the tax cuts of the past years every time I fuel up or buy a loaf of bread.
Admittedly, after a few years of study, I am still a novice in the field of economics, so I hope that all readers feel free to correct anything I’ve said that is inaccurate.
Sweden, what a terrible place. it’s only 6th out of 155 nations in the human development index.
It’s number 27 on the Economic Freedom Index, though. I prefer freedom to “Human Development”, which to me sounds like a kind of cattle breeding contest.
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm
I consider myself to be paying the tax cuts of the past years every time I fuel up or buy a loaf of bread.
You’re not paying for the tax cuts, you’re paying for the inflated money supply used to cover those tax cuts. Again, the problem is spending (and not tax cuts), which is not being addressed in the Times article, for a very good reason: The author believes in more government and less freedom.
Mr. DiLorenzo,
Somebody needs to write The New Road to Serfdom, about this democratic-socialist route we’re on. I nominate you for the job.
All in favor?
Al: Aye!
Call it “Road to Serfdom II”
Also, another thing I’ve been thinking about, I…I just have to say it…..
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy a bunch of airplane tickets to Sweden, than to impose the policies of Sweden?
According to Time, the fact that the Bush administration has been even more spendthrift (on domestic spending as well as military) than the notorious Johnson administration, and has accumulated huge budget deficits, is evidence that Americans have too much freedom and too much money in their pockets. They need to be taxed more severely in the name of budgetary “balance.”
If I told my neighbor that he is morally obligated to fork over his credit cards because mine are maxed out, he would likely have an animated display of righteous anger. However, when somebody tells us we need to fork over 95% because our government is $9 trillion in the hole, we call them “public-policy analysts” instead of bestowing them more appropriate titles.
Why do we give these people any credibility?
Mr. DiLorenzo,
I followed the link to the actual Time Magazine piece, written by Justin Fox, and I must say you sure got a lot more out of that article than I did.
It seemed that many of the bones you placed at Times door were in fact results of opinion polls, and quotes from authors other than Fox.
Opinion polls are worth about a nickel a gross and then only when they are printed on paper suitable for toilet papre. The quotes of outside, ‘authors’, are useful when the quotes support your current premise, and are easily found under any rock or leaf pile in the world.
Your blog was exciting reading for those who seek a socialist in all things pro or con concerning government and I’m sure it will be very useful as a source of quotes, and as proof for opinions stewed up by future authors and editorializer’s.
Here is a good place to raise the idea of geographical politics. Some countries, such as Russia and Sweden, live in colder climates than I would like. If someone tries to be a rugged individualist, he or she is more likely to perish than to survive. In Winter, especially, communities can help each other out.
So I wonder if these countries are naturally disposed to a strong hand in government? Perhaps the only genes that can survive are those geared to communal efforts, so socialism and communism make more sense to them. Maria Rankka, president of Timbro, a free-market group in Sweden, says in an interview in an Australian magazine (Policy) that swedes have never thought of their government as a problem, and they prefer the indirect payouts of the Welfare state, to the direct payouts involved in borrowing from your friends when you’re in trouble.
I think Sweden is not fertile ground for libertarians, but nor can the swedish model be exported.
Back and forth we go from conservative to liberal but nobody touches the government backed banking cartel. Since this cartel (via fractional reserve banking) is the root cause of the business cycle we can have no stable society until this is eliminated. The bankers always seem to be able to bribe with their fiat money.
That Time issue from 1948 (marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto) was actually very critical of Marxism:
The most interesting thing about these (Marx’s) ideas is their success in the teeth of developments
proving that Marx’s main assumptions were wrong. He assumed, for example, that the spectacular poverty of industrial workers of his day would spread and deepen. The capitalist philosophers, who predicted rising living standards, were right. A hundred years after the Manifesto, however, the class struggle is sharper in spite of the fact that the living standard of the “exploited classes” is almost
everywhere higher than it has ever been.
…
Control of production by “the state,” in place of ownership by private people, turned out to need bolstering up. It meant control of speech, thought and personal life. It was not the freed worker who replaced the capitalist; it was the cop, the spy, the bureaucrat.
…
The ingredients in Marxism’s emotional force are 1) pity, 2) hate, 3) desire for power
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798214-3,00.html
That Time issue from 1948 (marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto) was actually very critical of Marxism:
The most interesting thing about these (Marx’s) ideas is their success in the teeth of developments
proving that Marx’s main assumptions were wrong. He assumed, for example, that the spectacular poverty of industrial workers of his day would spread and deepen. The capitalist philosophers, who predicted rising living standards, were right. A hundred years after the Manifesto, however, the class struggle is sharper in spite of the fact that the living standard of the “exploited classes” is almost
everywhere higher than it has ever been.
…
Control of production by “the state,” in place of ownership by private people, turned out to need bolstering up. It meant control of speech, thought and personal life. It was not the freed worker who replaced the capitalist; it was the cop, the spy, the bureaucrat.
…
The ingredients in Marxism’s emotional force are 1) pity, 2) hate, 3) desire for power
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798214-3,00.html
nicholas gray how warm do you think it is in most of the US and Canada during the winter? I would think winters in New York, the Mid West and Canada could give Sweden a run for their money!
Nicholas Gray that theory is complete bunk and the only reason you brought it up is because you thought it would make you appear smart.
And if all those people stay in place for generation after generation, only marrying locally, I’d bet you’d end up like Russia and Sweden! They’ve not been known for high immigration rates, and most people have been marrying locally, at least until now. North America’s population is unusual, in being so varied, so you can’t use your history as a guide to other places.
“In Winter, especially, communities can help each other out.
So I wonder if these countries are naturally disposed to a strong hand in government? Perhaps the only genes that can survive are those geared to communal efforts, so socialism and communism make more sense to them. ”
You are confusing voluntary cooperation based on mutual benefit with the government taking and regulating by force, inevitably favoring the politically connected at the expense of the rest.
These are two entirely different concepts and the latter destroys the former, which degrades society.
I am not confusing the two, I am just wondering if there is a genetic component to easy acceptance of the welfare state. I note, for one genetic example, that women seem more inclined to communal efforts- there seem to be very few women in Libertarian circles. Most of our Australian libertarians are masculine commentors.
And one commentor here told me that Canadians also get cold weather. Don’t US columns regularly compare Canada unfavourably to the US? Isn’t it assumed to be more socialist than you? Is it just to be different? Or could people in cold climates be ganging up, a social ‘War on Weather’? You people in the states have it a lot easier than the average canadian.
I know that geography doesn’t explain everything, but I do think it is a contributing cause. History is another, which is why warm France is more pro-government.
And you don’t win arguments if you make verbal attacks on other contributors.
1) Many parts of the US are colder or equal to Canada (Mid West, Alaska etc)
2) Canada is only slightly more socialist than the US according to here http://www.heritage.org/index/countries.cfm
3) Australia is very warm and slightly less socialist than both the US and Canada
4) The 2nd least socialist country in the world (Singapore) is right on the equator.
I’m failing to see a correlation between coldness and socialism here
“there seem to be very few women in Libertarian circles”
The obvious counter examples that spring to mind are Ayn Rand and Friedman’s wife Rose.
Ayn Rand, Rose Friedman, and Virginia Postrel, and who else? Are any of our current contributors to this column females? And most of the articles here seem to be written by men. Am I missing something, or is it still a good rule of thumb that a libertarian will be a man?
And Australia is more heavily regulated than you realise- the unions are not as strong as they once were, but they are still around, and still influential. That is because history also plays a role, and we were heavily influenced by Britain. However, Libertarian ideas and ideals will have an easier time flourishing here than they would in colder climates.
But Australians also are tempted by that other War I mentioned- the war against the Weather. We turn to governments to help us in our fight against fires and floods. Instead of a never-ending war against drugs, which we have in miniature, we might succumb to environmental dictatorship. All countries have latent tendencies to bigger governments
I agree with the guy that suggest buying tickets to Sweden. But, I don’t particularly think that this is something anyone should be joking about. The real issue here is the lack of morals by the fellow that penned this tripe and the people out there that actually believe they have the “right” to confiscate the wealth(labor and effort) of people they don’t even know. If you want the government to pay for your food, transportation, housing and healthcare fine. Just don’t include me in your dirty little guild. But when the food is just cheese and powdered milk, the bus stops 5 miles from your crime ridden house and you have to wait a year for your triple bypass because you are past the age where you make significant financial contributions to your society of criminals please don’t complain. You have gotten exactly what you deserve.
to nicholas gray:
have a read of stefan karlsson article on the sweden of yore (http://mises.org/daily/2259).
it shows how much sweden has changed since wwii.
Nicholas Gray is actually onto something, but it’s not cold weather that predisposes people toward socialism. Check out the book “Culture Matters” and other works on culture and econ. Traditional cultures value group action over individualism and are very risk averse. They have a greater respect for people in power and tolerate huge inequalities in power between the rulers and the masses. Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and African cultures are on the extreme side of this. Europe is kind of in the middle while the US is so far out there on individualism and tolerance for risk that the rest of the world thinks we have gone nuts. But that seems to be changing and we’re devolving to a more traditional culture, which makes us more tolerant of socialism.
there’s another excellent article on the way the swedes have changed (for the worse). i think bad policy can corrupt any society or culture over time.
http://mises.org/daily/2190
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